Apparatus and method for processing a multimedia commerce service

ABSTRACT

A multimedia commerce brand offering environment is disclosed. Herein, a method for processing a multimedia commerce service includes the steps of storing service usage pattern data of a user using the multimedia commerce service, sensing a user action from a CPE of the user using the multimedia commerce service, comparing the sensed user action with the stored service usage pattern data of the user, extracting service usage pattern data of the user in accordance with the user action, and providing recommended commerce service information respective to the extracted service usage pattern data of the user.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of the following U.S. provisionalpatent application and Korean patent applications, which are herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety: U.S. Patent Application No.61/770,325 filed on Feb. 28, 2013, U.S. Patent Application No.61/805,123 filed on Mar. 25, 2013, U.S. Patent Application No.61/805,125 filed on Mar. 25, 2013, U.S. Patent Application No.61/816,172 filed on Apr. 26, 2013, U.S. Patent Application No.61/816,173 filed on Apr. 26, 2013, U.S. Patent Application No.61/836,674 filed on Jun. 19, 2013, Korean Patent Application No.10-2014-0023201 filed on Feb. 27, 2014, Korean Patent Application No.10-2014-0023214 filed on Feb. 27, 2014, and Korean Patent ApplicationNo. 10-2014-0023216 filed on Feb. 27, 2014.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

This invention relates to multimedia commerce delivery to end-users, andmore specifically to delivery of a branded commerce environment toend-user devices, such as a ‘smart TV.’

2. Description of Related Art

As the Internet came to its first platform, the connected PC, onlinecommerce emerged as an incredible economic powerhouse. The business-useparadigm of the PC, with its powerful capabilities, enabled theemergence of the browser, a processing and memory hungry on-line client.Along with the application server, which could be placed in a hostinglocation and accessed worldwide, the browser became a full-blownapplications platform. Complicated shopping and purchasing functionscould be accommodated, yielding a chapter in history generally referredto as ‘e-commerce’.

The browser has continued to emerge as a flexible client-sideapplications platform, capable of handling a mixture of all kinds ofcontent (e.g., with HTML5 for example), downloaded code to enhance theuser experience (e.g., Java-script), and different types of media (e.g.,audio, video, and animation such as Flash). The browser becomes a veryspecific application, depending on where you ‘point’ it. The browserparadigm is perfectly suited to the PC.

As mobile technologies emerged, several attempts where made to re-createthe e-commerce platform of the PC. However, mobile devices havesignificant limitations. For instance, the screen and keyboardcapabilities were much more limited than the PC. In addition, theprocessing power in a mobile device is limited both by the target costof the device and by the available power consumption. First attempts attext-based browsers, such as wireless application protocol (WAP), werevery limiting. When smart-phones emerged, ports of the full browser tothe mobile environment also yielded poor results. Full browserapplications were very slow, inappropriately matched to screen size, andprovided an overall unsatisfactory application user experience comparedto ‘native’ phone applications. Certain aspects of the phone alsochanged the application possibilities radically, such as the SMScapabilities, the location awareness capabilities, and the ability tointegrate with voice in several dimensions.

As mobile devices became more powerful, essentially providing PC powerin a small form factor, even though the browser could be made to workwell enough, what emerged was an ‘app’ paradigm, which doesn't look likea browser at all. In stark contrast with the PC, the model of the‘there's an app for that’, where the app is precisely tailored to onetask or one brand, with the application being location or voice enabledin just the right way, proved to be a good use-model for the smartphone. In fact, when one looks at the other mobile platforms, such astablets, and the like, this use-mode only represents an incrementalimprovement. Even given its limitation, every retailer and companyrushed out to build an app that would provide ‘brand identity’ into themobile marketplace. They could use their app to capture e-commerce onthe phone, and through the app, build a relationship directly with theconsumer.

For mobile environments and technology infrastructure, app developersrealized that the server side was generating a great deal of content andwould still require the networked technologies of the applicationserver. It was also realized that to handle a mixture of all kinds ofcontent, downloaded code, and several types of media in the app, the appcould be built out of the same parts that the browser was constructedout of, but in the final build process the elements could be boundtogether as a purpose-built ‘native’ phone app. And so many of today'sapps are built using ‘web kit’ technology, which are browser modulesconnected together as such. In fact, the modern open source browsersthemselves are constructed out of the same web kit. So while there isquite a different use-model for applications on the PC (e.g., websitesthrough the browser) as compared to mobile (i.e., a focused-purposeapp), the actual client-side technology is largely shared.

Recently, the television has become an Internet-connected device. Forinstance, an Internet-connected game console extends the console gamingexperience to a network gaming experience. An Internet-connected Blu-Rayplayer and some of the first ‘smart TVs’ were host to ‘alternatechannels’ for entertainment content. For the same reason as with mobile,when the browsers were developed on the TV, they were resourceconstrained. As a result, they didn't provide an optimal consumerexperience, and were certainly not capable of being the powerfulplatform that they were for the PC. So the ‘apps’ model was utilized,lifted from mobile environment for use with ‘smart televisions’. Forinstance, one could rent or watch movies and shows from on-line sitessuch as NetFlix or Hulu, or listen to Internet Radio from places such asPandora. One could use media sources such as iTunes for video and musicand sources like Flickr for viewing photos uploaded to the Internet.Also, viewing platforms such as YouTube were available for viewinguser-posted videos.

Many platforms emerged enabling developers to create TV apps much in thesame way as mobile apps were created. Some of the first smart TVsactually utilized a mobile operating system mimicking precisely theapp-use model. The ‘one app, one channel’ model was a simple firstparadigm. The lack of a keyboard or a precision pointing device, such asa mouse, did not detract from the value proposition, because on the TVthe interaction mode was largely passive, and more of the apps were justfor passive watching of video, allowing users access to Internet videocontent for free or very low ‘all-you-can-eat’ subscription models.Despite the rather limited capabilities, they provided the novelty ofInternet content on ‘the big screen’, and the interest of the consumerin these new ‘internet video on-demand’ and ‘Internet channels’ becamepopular. With well-understood on-demand and subscription rate businessmodels, simple apps and the services behind them have been popular forconsumers looking for alternative entertainment.

But for television, the success of the mobile app paradigm proved morechallenging. If an app only provided video, then sufficient performancewas available, where even if the menus on the app seemed sparse on thebig screen, eventually the video filled it. But other apps, adapted frommobile, provided poor quality on the big screen. The use oflow-resolution graphics, the lack of streaming embedded video, and thesparse and simple visual presentation were clear mismatches for thetelevision platform. For instance, the ‘home theater’ environment isexpected to provide an ear-popping audio experience, but web sites andmobile apps didn't typically utilize audio, and if they did, it wasn'tsurround sound. The mobile apps that ended up specifically adapted tolocation-based services, or communications such as SMS, video calling,and email, found themselves without these features on the television.

The expectation of the experience on the TV, Internet connected or not,is so much higher, that even a high fidelity rendering of a web sitedesigned for a PC, or TV adaptation of a mobile app, may not becompelling in this more passive entertainment-driven interaction mode.The television is capable of displaying not only the highest quality,studio mastered video and audio content to the consumer, but alsoequally spectacular studio-polished production content and experience intelevision advertising. In fact, television advertising very much drivestelevision programming. Television is ideal for brands as a portal tothe consumer. Of all media available to brands and advertisers, fromprint to radio to web sites to billboards and everything in between,television is the premier vehicle by which a brand and advertisers canget their most sophisticated and polished message and position to theconsumer. The current Internet connected TV has neglected this. TheInternet banner ad is simply not sufficient for brand ad advertisers inthe television domain.

Therefore, a new paradigm is needed for the TV, which, like mobile, doesnot rely on a paradigm of an all-powerful local browser, where thespecific capabilities of the television are leveraged, and where brandsand advertisers are provided a platform that can scale up to the highresolutions TVs, and can deliver the spectacular studio-polishedproduction visual and audio experiences that they are accustomed todelivering.

SUMMARY

Web-based delivery of brand content through computer devices isstraightforward, as the computing device is specifically adapted tointerface through the Internet directly with brand websites, such as fora user selecting and purchasing a brand product over the Internet.However, entertainment devices such as televisions have nottraditionally been adapted for web-based delivery of content, andespecially not suited for the multimedia presentation of a brand productthrough the television from a brand site. Smart TVs (and other customerpremise equipment) have begun to enable this capability, but thecomputing infrastructure for providing the high-resolution multimediacontent to a user through their television, especially brand sitecontent, is inadequate. The present disclosure describes improvedmethods and systems for providing a branded commerce infrastructure forthe delivery of multimedia brand product offerings.

The present disclosure describes a system that meets the challengingdelivery environment of the TV, where consumers are becoming used tokeyboards appearing on screens, paired tablets, smartphones, and thelike. However, the television platform itself, unlike the PC or themobile device, has a severe economic challenge. For instance, most ofthe cost and most of the value in a TV is in the screen. This is whatconsumers mainly pay for, and this is the primary metric of competitionfor TV vendors, leaving less room for cost of goods investment inprocessors and memory for software. Unlike in the mobile deviceecosystem, there is not a subsidy/contracts model for refreshing thedevice. Televisions tend to stay in place and operation ten times longerthan an average mobile device (roughly 10 years versus 1 year,respectively). This leads to what we can be viewed as a profound paradoxin the delivery of TV based Internet services. The TV is setting highexpectations for extreme visual content with larger and larger screenreal estate with visual capabilities going from 2D to 3D and resolutionsbeyond high definition, but processors and memory are relatively weakcompared to other content delivery platforms.

An application delivering a multi-part, media rich visual experience tothis much screen real estate is a processor- and memory-intensive job.The present disclosure describes methods and systems that deliverapplications in a computing-power constrained environment, as well asthe need to provide this delivery to a TV that typically has a long lifewith the consumer. For instance, users expect a ten-year-old TV to stillplay videos, and expect it to still tune-in to a channel or app that isdriven by the Internet. With the PC, a processor refresh (PCreplacement) is likely to come in three years. For the mobile device, inone year. This is how PC and mobile developers keep the processor andmemory footprint capable enough on these computing devices. With the TV,it might be ten years. When thought of this way, the profound paradoxprovides an order of magnitude challenge, where there is a need to do somuch more with so much less, and even then, for so much longer. To solvethis profound paradox, the present disclosure describes a system thatapproaches the television environment differently then as in the PC andmobile environments. The TV is not going to be a full computer like thePC or the mobile device. The system described herein enables highperformance client-side technology for the life of the TV and create anew use-paradigm that is suitable for the TV experience.

The system does not rely on a TV to be a powerful, up-to-date, on-line‘computer’. The browser, even in a web kit form, is too complicated torun on the TV, such that brands and advertisers will see it as aplatform that can scale-up to the high resolution TVs, delivering thehigh-quality studio-polished production visual and audio experiencesthat they are accustomed to delivering, and in every way be the showcasemedia for their products. Given the pressures on cost of goods for theTV, it's longevity in the hands of the consumer, and the extreme videoand audio performance expected from the system, the system utilizesprocessing capability outside the TV, such as in the server-based cloud,pushing the processing of the app to the server. Given the modestbandwidth requirements, the application may run where there is ampleprocessing capacity, memory, and cache for the application.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may provide for remote browserrendering of T-commerce content to user equipment in a brand offeringproduct environment, including the determination of the nativecapabilities of customer premises equipment (CPE), and rending contentthrough a remote browser to the CPE so that the user may utilize thebrand content services of the T-commerce system even when the CPE doesnot have native capabilities, such as a native full web browser, fordirect viewing of web formatted content. In the instance when the CPEhas native capabilities, the T-commerce system may provide the CPE withan interface to the brand content services of the T-commerce systemwithout the use of a remote browser.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may comprise a server-basedmulti-media content delivery platform (DP) comprising a plurality ofbrowsers, adapted to serve a plurality of a television-based CPE througha remote protocol across the Internet, and where the browser rendersweb-based multi-media content to the CPE on a display based on whetherthe CPE is adapted to render web-based content with CPE nativefacilities; a television-based e-commerce (T-commerce) facility incommunicative connection with the DP, and through at least one of thebrowsers to the CPE, the T-commerce facility providing access to aplurality of e-commerce content offerings through a CPE graphical userinterface; and at least one brand-specific e-commerce product contentcommunication channel (brand channel) as at least one of the pluralityof e-commerce content offerings, the brand channel presentingbrand-specific e-commerce product content, as presented though the CPEgraphical user interface, the brand channel being managed by a brandenterprise. The determination of whether the CPE is adapted to renderweb-based content with CPE native facilities may be determined when theCPE connects with the DP, where if CPE native facilities do not meet aminimum set of predetermined criteria, a browser is assigned to the CPEfor rendering content. The display may be comprised within the CPE. Thedisplay may be connected to the CPE, such as when the CPE is atelevision and the display is the display of the television (e.g., theCPE is a Blu-Ray player connected to a television.

In embodiments, the CPE may be a smart television, a Blu-ray device, adigital media-streaming device, and the like. The CPE may comprise atelevision client through which the CPE is capable of connecting tonetworked computer devices on the Internet. A user of the CPE mayinterface with the CPE through the CPE graphical user interface with aremote device, the remote device adapted to provide point-and-clickfunctionality through sensor-based control, where the sensor-basedcontrol is through a motion-sensing sensor, such as the sensor may be aninertial measurement unit, accelerometer, and the like. Brands may beenabled to serve relevant libraries of brand-related video and imagecontent to the CPE. Users of the CPE may be enabled to browse and shopthrough libraries of brand content using the CPE. User navigation may betracked as a user of the CPE navigates amongst the e-commerce contentofferings where brand content may reside. The DP may deliver content tothe CPE dependent on the type of device the user is operating as a CPE.

To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with thepurpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, amethod for processing a multimedia commerce service includes the stepsof storing service usage pattern data of a user using the multimediacommerce service, sensing a user action from a CPE of the user using themultimedia commerce service, comparing the sensed user action with thestored service usage pattern data of the user, extracting service usagepattern data of the user in accordance with the user action, andproviding recommended commerce service information respective to theextracted service usage pattern data of the user.

The step of storing service usage pattern data of a user includes thesteps of receiving a commerce service request of the user, configuring aservice screen of the commerce service in accordance with the receivedrequest and transmitting the configured service screen, sensing the useraction through the commerce service screen, and storing service usagepattern data of the user corresponding to the sensed user action.

The service usage pattern data of the user corresponding to the senseduser action may correspond to a brand visiting path pattern related to abrand identifier and product identifier based upon tracking dataacquired from the user's pointer trajectory.

The step of sensing a user action may sense the user action based upon adirect touch of a CPE, a signal being inputted through a smart phone, aremote device, a mouse, a camera, and a microphone.

The step of extracting service usage pattern data of the user inaccordance with the user action includes the steps of extracting allservice usage pattern data of the user similar to the user action, basedupon the compared result, deciding priority levels of the extractedservice usage pattern data of the user in accordance with a patternsimilarity level, and extracting the service usage pattern data of theuser corresponding to a highest priority level among the decidedpriority levels.

The step of providing recommended commerce service informationrespective to the extracted service usage pattern data of the userincludes the steps of deciding a content alignment frame in accordancewith the service usage pattern data of the user, deciding alignmentpositions of contents in accordance with the decided contents alignmentframe, and providing brand information and respective productinformation corresponding to the decided alignment positions of thecontents.

The contents may include moving picture images, photos, and textcontents, and the contents alignment frame may correspond to a stackstructure.

In another aspect of the present invention, in a device for processing amultimedia commerce service configuring a network in a CPE, the devicefor processing the multimedia commerce service includes a communicationmodule configured to transmit and receive data, a storage moduleconfigured to store service usage pattern data of a user using themultimedia commerce service, a sensing module configured to sense a useraction from a CPE of the user using the multimedia commerce service, anextraction module configured to extract service usage pattern data ofthe user in accordance with the user action, an editing moduleconfigured to edit browser screen configuration of a multimedia commerceservice being provided to the CPE in accordance with the extractedservice usage pattern data of the user, and a controller configured tocontrol the communication module, the storage module, the sensingmodule, the extraction module, and the editing module, and to providerecommended commerce service information to the corresponding CPEthrough an edited browser screen in accordance with the service usagepattern data of the user.

The controller may be further configured to receive a commerce servicerequest of the user, to configure a service screen of the commerceservice in accordance with the received request and to transmit theconfigured service screen, to sense the user action through the commerceservice screen, and to store the service usage pattern data of the usercorresponding to the user action.

The service usage pattern data of the user corresponding to the senseduser action may correspond to a brand visiting path pattern related to abrand identifier and product identifier based upon tracking dataacquired from the user's pointer trajectory.

The sensing module may be configured to sense user action based upon adirect touch of a CPE, a signal being inputted through a smart phone, aremote device, a mouse, a camera, and a microphone.

The extraction module may include a comparison unit configured tocompare the detected user action with the stored service usage patterndata of the user, a first extraction unit configured to extract allservice usage pattern data of the user similar to the user action, basedupon the compared result, a priority-level decision unit configured todecide priority levels of the extracted service usage pattern data ofthe user in accordance with a pattern similarity level, and a secondextraction unit configured to extract the service usage pattern data ofthe user corresponding to a highest priority level among the decidedpriority levels.

The editing module may be configured to decide a content alignment framein accordance with the service usage pattern data of the user, to decidealignment positions of contents in accordance with the decided contentsalignment frame, and to provide brand information and respective productinformation corresponding to the decided alignment positions of thecontents.

The contents may include moving picture images, photos, and textcontents, and the contents alignment frame may correspond to a stackstructure.

These and other systems, methods, objects, features, and advantages ofthe present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art fromthe following detailed description of the preferred embodiment and thedrawings. All documents mentioned herein are hereby incorporated intheir entirety by reference.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The invention and the following detailed description of certainembodiments thereof may be understood by reference to the followingfigures:

FIG. 1 depicts an embodiment functional block diagram of the T-commercesystem.

FIG. 2 depicts an embodiment flow diagram for the system during a userinteraction with brand channel content.

FIG. 3 depicts an embodiment functional block diagram for a consumerpremises equipment (CPE) unit.

FIG. 4 depicts an embodiment functional block diagram for an interactionbetween a user and a brand payment service.

FIG. 5 depicts an embodiment functional block diagram for the deliveryplatform gateway discovery service.

FIG. 6 depicts an embodiment flow diagram for assigning a remote browserthrough the gateway discovery service.

FIG. 7 depicts an embodiment functional block diagram of a user'sinteraction with a global and brand cart within the system.

FIG. 8 depicts an embodiment flow diagram for a user launching thesystem through a remote device.

FIG. 9 depicts an embodiment block diagram of the mini home.

FIG. 10 depicts an embodiment functional flow diagram of the CPEinteracting with the system.

FIG. 11 depicts an embodiment functional flow diagram includingnavigation through the system.

FIG. 12 depicts an embodiment functional flow diagram includinglaunching applications within the system.

FIG. 13 depicts an embodiment functional flow diagram including textingwithin the system.

FIG. 14 depicts an embodiment functional flow diagram including dataflow within the system.

FIG. 15 depicts an embodiment functional flow diagram including a mobileassist repository.

FIG. 16 depicts an embodiment flow diagram including interaction amongstcomponents during launching of the system.

FIG. 17 depicts an embodiment flow diagram including interaction amongstcomponents during launching of the system.

FIG. 18 depicts an embodiment flow diagram including browser interactionwith a mobile application.

FIG. 19 depicts an embodiment flow diagram amongst a mobile device, theCPE, and a system channel.

FIG. 20 depicts an embodiment functional block diagram for theT-commerce channel.

FIG. 21 depicts an embodiment client-server configuration of theT-commerce channel.

FIG. 22 depicts an embodiment sequence diagram showing interactionsacross the system to channel stores.

FIG. 23 depicts an embodiment functional flow diagram for a T-channelads service setup.

FIG. 24 depicts an embodiment functional flow diagram for a T-commerceads scenario.

FIG. 25 depicts an embodiment functional flow diagram including a bannersetup scenario.

FIG. 26 depicts an embodiment functional flow diagram including adserving.

FIG. 27 depicts embodiment brand channel use cases.

FIG. 28 depicts an embodiment functional flow diagram including userinteraction with a brand channel.

FIG. 29 depicts an embodiment functional flow diagram including brandchannel interaction with a payment facility.

FIG. 30 depicts an embodiment functional flow diagram including a dataflow in association with a brand channel.

FIG. 31 depicts an embodiment functional block diagram for channelapplications deployment.

FIG. 32 depicts an embodiment functional block diagram for channelapplication components.

FIG. 33 depicts an embodiment functional block diagram for an analyticsfacility.

FIG. 34 depicts an embodiment functional flow diagram for a userinteraction for metadata in an analytics facility.

FIG. 35 depicts an embodiment data abstraction layers for an analyticsfacility.

FIG. 36 depicts an embodiment star schema diagram for an analyticsfacility.

FIG. 37 depicts an embodiment hierarchical diagram for an analyticsfacility.

FIG. 38 depicts an embodiment functional block diagram including abrowser plugin for a CPE client.

FIGS. 39-41 depict embodiment sequence diagrams for interactionsassociated with a browser plugin for a CPE client.

FIGS. 42-43 depict embodiment sequence diagrams for interactionsassociated with cookie authentication.

FIGS. 44-48 depict embodiment sequence diagrams for new and existingprofile interactions.

FIG. 49 depicts a block diagram showing other embodiments of aT-commerce service system according to the present invention.

FIG. 50 depicts a block diagram showing a detailed structure of theextraction module shown in FIG. 49.

FIGS. 51 a-51 f depict a first embodiment of a browser screen edited forthe T-commerce service.

FIG. 52 depicts a second embodiment of a browser screen edited for theT-commerce service.

FIGS. 53-55 depict a flow chart for describing an embodiment of a methodfor processing services in a multimedia commerce service system.

FIG. 56 depicts an embodiment of a flow chart for describing a method ofprocessing at least one other service with the commerce service.

FIGS. 57-59 depict a drawing for describing the method of processing atleast one other service with the commerce service according to theexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 60 depicts another embodiment of a flow chart for describing amethod of processing at least one different service along with thecommerce service.

FIG. 61 depicts yet another embodiment of a flow chart for describing amethod of processing at least one different service along with thecommerce service.

FIG. 62 depicts a block diagram showing a configuration for processing alinked commerce service according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 63 depicts a flow chart for describing a method for processing alinked commerce service according to the embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 64 depicts an output scene of the linked commerce service accordingto the embodiment of the present invention.

While the invention has been described in connection with certainpreferred embodiments, other embodiments would be understood by one ofordinary skill in the art and are encompassed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure presents embodiments for a T-commerce system, acloud-based system adapted for the presentation of multi-mediae-commerce through an Internet-connected television-based customerpremise equipment (CPE), such as a smart TV, Blu-Ray player, digitalmedia streaming device, and the like. The T-commerce system may providebrand web content to users through their CPE, where the brand webcontent is provided through a multi-channel offering environment (e.g.,a T-commerce channel layered over brand channels). Although the term‘commerce’ is utilized herein in the description of the T-commercesystem, commerce may include not only the presentation of goods andservices for sale, but for marketing, social exchange, entertainment,education, and the like. For instance, the T-commerce system may providea brand channel for a manufacturer of shoes for the presentation andsale of their products. However, the T-commerce system may also providefor a manufacturer to market their products without a way to purchasethe products through the T-commerce system, such as an automotivemanufacturer presenting their new line of cars, but where purchase of acar cannot be executed directly through the T-commerce system. In such away, the T-commerce system is providing a commerce related function, butwithout a direct way for a user to make a purchase. In another instance,the T-commerce system may provide social exchange through a brandchannel, such as a government, civil, educational, commercial entitypresenting a social service function. For example, a commercial entitymay provide users with access to a live or recorded event that isrelated to their product field, and presented as a service to theircustomers (e.g., a sporting event, a fashion show, a discussion, alecture). A governmental or educational entity may also have a brandchannel for the purposes of presenting services to the community. Thus,although the T-commerce system, with its layered brand channels, ispresented herein predominately as a way for an enterprise to providegoods and services to users, this is not meant to be limiting in any wayexcept where context requires otherwise. One skilled in the art willappreciate that the T-commerce system may be utilized broadly in thepresentation of goods, services, marketing, social exchange,entertainment, education, and the like.

CPEs may have varying degrees of computing capability, and therefore theT-commerce system provides a remote browser infrastructure capable ofproviding an interface if the CPE has a weak computing capability (e.g.,weak or no native browser capability), and to provide load balancingcapabilities when presented with a diversity of computing capabilities.In the instance when the CPE device has weak computing capabilities, theinfrastructure provides the capability to provide streamed renderedcontent from the multi-channel T-commerce system, through browsers thatare hosted remotely, such as through a server-based content deliveryplatform. In addition, other supporting or related infrastructurecomponents may be provided, such as advertisement facilities, paymentfacilities, analytics facilities, network management facilities, and thelike.

In embodiments, the infrastructure behind the user experience mayinclude not only browsers for connecting and rendering content, but withfacilities for brand channels, advertisers, payment structures, and thelike. Referring to FIG. 1, a top-level embodiment block diagram 100 ispresented of the system, showing a user 102 interfacing visually with aCPE 106 and physically with the CPE through a remote device 104 (e.g., asensor-based pointing-capable TV remote control). The CPE 106 includes aCPE client 108 that interfaces through the Internet with a deliveryplatform (DP) 110 via a DP gateway 111. Instances of DP remote browsers112 are assigned to CPEs as needed. The delivery platform then connectsthe user CPE 106 to a T-commerce channel 114, such as via a T-commercechannel portal 115. The T-commerce channel 114 may store membership datain a membership database 128. A network management facility 113 maymanage this interconnection. The T-commerce channel 114 then enablesconnection of the user CPE 106 to a brand channel 116, which mayinterface with a payment facility 130 associated with payment data in apayment database 132. An advertisement facility 118 may enableadvertisement delivery through the T-commerce channel 114 and the brandchannel 116, as well as directly to a CPE home page (e.g., LG Smart TVHome Dashboard). An analytics facility 122 may be used to developbusiness intelligence data, such as for use with brands, advertisers,and the like, with analytics data stored in an analytics database 126.

In order to illustrate how the system may operate, an example presentedas a narrative walkthrough will be provided. This system narrative ismeant to be illustrative, and not limiting in any way, helping toillustrate an embodiment usage of the system. Although a ‘smarttelevision’, also referred to simply as a ‘TV’, is used in the exampleas the CPE 106, it should be understood that the system may work withother CPE 106 devices, such as a through a Blu-Ray player, a digitalmedia player (e.g., Roku), and the like. In addition, secondarycomputing devices may be used in conjunction with the CPE to enhance andextend the user experience, such as including smart phones, tablets,laptop computers, and the like.

In this non-limiting example, the user experience may include a CPE 106,such as a smart TV running a small client 108 that sits on a TVapplication programming interface (API). The TV client directs a remoteprotocol to coordinate data transfers by the TV API, where it isdecoded. The TV API may comprise or work in conjunction with a pluralityof APIs, such as a direct video-audio API, a rendering API, a networkAPI, a device-input API, and the like. The client software sitting onthese APIs manages the main network communications with the TV, theremote devices (e.g., TV remote control, mobile device, tablet device),and causes the TV to display video and play sound that is the userexperience of the T-commerce system. The browser 112 is running theT-commerce channel content on the other side of the network, with datasent down to the TV for display, such as screen-by-screen in H.264encoded video and audio. User interaction is sent back up to the browser112 for interacting with the content. In embodiments, the client 108software may include interfaces to TV operating system API's, two-wayIP-based protocol across the Internet connection of the TV, buffers andinstrumentation of connection speed (e.g., to send advice to theT-commerce system for purposes of adjusting network parameters,rate-adaptive compression, preventing poor user experience), DNSservices, IP address services, authentication (e.g., based on MACaddress), session management and synchronization with the deliveryplatform, encryption mode, and the like.

Through this interface, the user sees, hears, and interacts with thesystem, as if it was locally running. The remote protocol handlessending inputs like keyboard entry mouse clicks from the remote controldevice or other paired remote device (e.g., smart phone). Using theremote protocol, video and audio fed from the delivery platform 110traverses the Internet to the smart TV. Likewise, the remote protocolhandles sending inputs (e.g., keyboard and mouse inputs) from the TV.The delivery platform runtimes are running the remote browser 112.Screen and audio output is encoded on top of the remote protocol bydelivery platform encoders. The T-commerce channel runs an applicationserver, which is running the server application, which then accesses aplurality of brand channels 116.

Continuing with greater detail, and beginning back with the smart TV,when the TV is first powered, it may show a home screen. The user thenuses a remote control device 104 to control the TV interface through thehome screen, such as with a paired remote control device with internalsensors for cursor pointing, mouse action, keyboard control, and thelike. The user may proceed to watch normal TV, or then may go to aT-commerce channel. While at the home screen, or even while watching TV,the user may select the T-commerce channel by selecting an associatedlaunch/icon button, or by clicking through a displayed brandadvertisement. Ads may appear on the home screen, while watching the TV,on the remote, and the like. Ads may also appear on secondary computerdevices, such as a tablet or a smart phone that is being used inconjunction with the TV and the T-commerce system. When a user selects aT-commerce channel, they will see, hear, and be able to interact with itthrough a T-commerce application. To facilitate the TV-side of theT-commerce channel, a TV-client 108 is utilized, which sits on top of aTV API, taking the user inputs and sending them upstream on the Internetto the user's instance of the T-commerce channel 114. The TV APIinterfaces to the network using the remote protocol, such as decodingH.264 video and audio for display, and presents an interface to theremote control device. Likewise, the user experience in terms ofon-screen video and application display, and audio, are taken off thenetwork by the TV client using the TV API, and are decoded and presentedas viewable video and listenable audio by the TV. The TV client uses aremote protocol for interactions with the network. The TV client sets upthe connection to, and server-side invocation of, the user's instance ofthe T-commerce channel handling the network connectivity set-up, as wellas the equivalent of the user login. The TV client is transparent to theuser. Once the process is started, the user is interacting with theT-commerce application using the TV and the remote device through thenetwork.

The remote protocol is a collection of bi-directional communications andpackaging of traffic between the TV and a collection of capabilities inthe delivery platform. It connects the TV with the delivery platform,first to a delivery platform gateway discovery service, to find outwhich delivery platform site to go to, and then to a delivery platformgateway 111 within the delivery platform site. Finally to the remotebrowser 112, which handles the transit of both the upstream anddownstream control and audio/video payload access to the Internet, tothe network facing side of the delivery platform. This may be a layer 7protocol in the OSI networking model. More precisely, the TV client maybe implementing the remote protocol, but the TV API via the networkinterface is placing it on the TCP/IP networking stack in the TV.

The delivery platform 110 may be implemented as a multi-computer systemhosted in one or more regional data centers, and is preferablyimplemented using cloud computing techniques. It provides the processingthat makes up the experience of the T-commerce channel, so that all theTV has to do is ingest the video and audio and play them, providing thescreen and sound of the T-commerce channel, and making sure the gesturesor other signals from the remote device are delivered upstream. Thedelivery platform may be implemented with a plurality of highperformance servers, with memory and processing capabilities toimplement audio and video encoding. The delivery platform may becomprised of the delivery platform gateway pool that handles edgefunctions and manages the traffic flows from the users, includingimplementing the remote protocol, the delivery platform runtimes poolthat is where the remote browsers run, and the delivery platformencoders that convert the screen and sound of the T-commerce channelinto the compressed video and audio stream. The delivery platform 110may comprise a number of facilities in addition to the gateway 111 andthe remote browser(s) 112, including a channel administrator interface,encoders, gateway discovery service facilities, runtimes, service lists,remote protocol facilities, and the like. In embodiments, the deliveryplatform 110 is a complete suite of hardware and software componentsthat run the remote browser(s) 112 in a cloud and delivery ofaudio-video streams to the TV. The remote browsers in the deliveryplatform may obtain their web content and business login from a back-endT-commerce portal.

The delivery platform gateway discovery service may be the first stepthat the remote protocol encounters. The remote protocol may contain anumber of fixed URLs for accessing the delivery platform gatewaydiscovery service, such as located in different geographic regions. Thedelivery platform gateway discovery service, based on where the TV islocated, may communicate with the remote protocol from that time on,which delivery platform site to work with.

The delivery platform gateway 111 is a software module running on thedelivery platform 110 that handles edge functions and assigns trafficflows from the users to remote browsers 112. It implements one side ofthe remote protocol. It manages the authentication functions for theuser, such as interfacing to a single sign-on system. It manages thenetwork proxy and load balancing functions. In a cloud computingimplementation of the delivery platform, there may be a dynamic pool ofdelivery platform gateway modules, meaning that the size of the pool maybe pro-actively increased and decreased based on user demand. Deliveryplatform gateway models are running and ready to serve incoming users,they are created pro-actively ahead of the user demand and are recycledso that they do not need to re-start to deal with changes to the poolsof delivery platform gateways or delivery platform runtimes. Ultimatelythe job of the delivery platform gateway 111 is to connect the user toan instance of the remote browser that is running on one of the deliveryplatform runtimes, and act as a form of load-balancer that receivesinitial TV client 108 requests to connect to a remote browser 112instance.

In embodiments, the delivery platform runtimes are compute platformswhose function is to run part or all of a remote browser. There is apool of them to serve the user community. Each live user will have acorresponding remote browser and therefore will have delivery platformruntime resources as well. In a cloud computing implementation of thedelivery platform 110, there would be a dynamic pool of deliveryplatform runtimes and remote browsers, meaning that the size of the poolis pro-actively increased and decreased based on user demand. Dependingon the capability of the underlying servers, and also utilizing furtherapplication internal process structure and operating system mechanismssuch as cloud computing, virtualization, multi-threading, and the like,there may be several delivery platform runtimes contributing computingor memory resources to each instance of remote browser. The architectureof the pool of physical servers, the delivery platform runtimes, and theremote browser with respect to optimized process and thread management,is an area of delivery platform implementation technique optimization.The delivery platform runtimes may contain special processors to assistthe remote browser with special operations, such as special graphicsoperations, with specialized graphics processors called graphicsprocessing units (GPU), to assist in the processing, such as forprocessing of very specific 2D and 3D operations.

The remote browser 112 is running on the delivery platform runtimes.There is one running remote browser for each active TV. The remotebrowser may have a plurality of plug-ins installed into it, enabling itto consume, process, and display the widest variety of content. Theremote browser is pointed to, loads, and executes the T-commerceapplication, where in embodiments under the browser is a technology thattranscodes, such as to H.264 frames, and sends it to the CPE. As it isexecuting, the remote browser itself, and in choreographing itsplug-ins, builds a pixel map of the screen for the end user CPE. Itplaces this in the remote browser application memory space. Inembodiments it also builds a stream of digitized audio, if there aresounds to play along with the visual presentation. This is also placedin remote browser application memory space. The remote browser is alsolistening to input events, such as a mouse click, or an event from aremote control, which may cause certain functionality in the T-commerceapplication, such as browsing navigation. The input events come to theremote browser through the remote protocol from the user on the TV. Asfar as the remote browser knows, it is executing a classic webapplication interacting with an user. In embodiments, the browser(s) 112may be hosted through cloud-based virtual machines and storage.

In embodiments, the CPE 106 may be computationally strong enough that ithas its own native browser, such that it does not require the servicesof the remote browser 112. In this instance, the CPE 106 may be able tobypass the front end of the T-commerce system, and go straight to theT-commerce channel 114 or the brand channel 116, without ever going tothe remote browser streaming system through the delivery platform 110.

In embodiments, the T-commerce methods and systems as disclosed hereinmay support a diverse range of CPE devices, from CPEs without nativebrowsers to CPEs with full browser capabilities, where the T-commercesystem provides load balancing facilities and determines browsercapabilities of CPE devices to determine what type and extent ofprocessing should occur on a remote browser 112. For instance, theT-commerce system may determine what device is being used and whetherthe system needs to stream through H.264 (e.g., Roku (no browser),Blu-Ray (no browser), and TVs with weak browsers) or go straight to theT-commerce channel (e.g., where the CPE is a high-capability smart TVwith a full browser, or another device such as a tablet, mobile phone,or laptop computer with strong browser capabilities). The load balanceralso may send a browser-enabled computing device (e.g., tablet) directlyto where it needs in order to access a channel (e.g., T-commercechannel, brand channel) or to the rendered streaming side (using theremote browser 112 in the delivery platform).

The T-commerce application may be HTML and JavaScript code, along withcontent, authored specifically to create the front-end part of theT-commerce channel experience. This is sometimes called a rich client.As the T-commerce application executes, it connects to the T-commerceserver application, and that generates further instruction for theremote browser. The user interacts with the T-commerce applicationrunning in the remote browser to experience the T-commerce channel, butonly after the pixel map of the screen and the stream of digitized audioare encoded and are sent across the network to the TV client using theremote protocol. The delivery platform encoders perform the encoding.

The delivery platform encoders access the remote browser applicationmemory space to capture each instant of the pixel map of the screen andstream of digitized audio. They efficiently use a video encodingalgorithm to produce a playable audio-visual stream, such as in theH.264 format, H.265 format, and the like. The delivery platform encodersmay utilize a hardware encoder or a software encoder using a CPU or aGPU, where in this instance the CPU or the GPU may implement a videoencoding feature.

The T-commerce channel 114 is essentially a doorway to the T-commercesystem across the brand channel(s) 116 delivered via the TV medium. Justlike a brick-and-mortar shopping plaza, the T-commerce channel enables arich, interactive and consistent television-based shopping experiencefor products and services sold by affiliated brand channels.Architecturally, the T-commerce channel may be viewed as a back-endservice provided through the T-commerce portal 115 supporting the remotebrowsers 112. The T-commerce portal delivers the T-commerce applicationweb files (i.e., HTML5, JavaScript, CSS, and media content) to theremote browser(s) and implements its business logic in its servletshosted by an application server. It also caches and manages the brandassets needed to render the brand's storefronts by the T-commercechannel application. The browser may repoint to a particular place inthe T-commerce channel platform for each brand channel. Each brandchannel may be a separate application, such as an HTML5 application. Inembodiments, the browser application 112 may keep track of the browsingactivity within and across brand channels, so the user can, using simplenavigation commands, such as a “back” button, navigate back to aprevious location, such as from a brand channel to the T-commerceplatform or to another brand channel from which the user has navigated.

The T-commerce channel 114 may include a number of facilities, such as abrand back-end services facility, brand data store, brand serverapplication, channel application repository, channel asset cache,channel package, application cloud, T-commerce channel data store,T-commerce channel REST API, T-commerce channel application gateway,T-commerce channel application server facility, T-commerce channelmetadata service, T-commerce channel portal, T-commerce channel serverapplication, T-commerce channel service registry, single sign-onfacility, and the like. The T-commerce channel 114 may also provide anapplication-wide search capability to easily locate informationavailable inside the T-commerce channel, and a navigation historyfacility for easy navigation within the application. In embodiments,search capabilities may include different levels of searching, such asfor an overall brand aggregate search covering all brands, abrand-specific search, department level searching, and the like, as wellas providing the facility for general web searching. For example,general web searching and top level aggregate searching covering allbrands may be provided at the home page banner on the television and/orat the T-commerce channel level, and a brand-specific search capabilityat the brand channel level. (i.e., product search)

While executing, the T-commerce application may interact with the webserver to get content, business logic, interface to databases, and otherfunctions common to a web architecture application. The T-commerceapplication may interact with the T-commerce gateway, which is afront-end that serves as an application firewall and load balancer tothe T-commerce server application.

The T-commerce server application is the web server that the T-commerceapplication interacts with to get content, business logic, interface todatabases, and other functions. This back-end may be integral to theT-commerce channel experience, implementing functions and connection tothe brand channels for content and the brand portals for e-commerce. Thecode for the T-commerce server application may be authored specificallyto create the back-end part of the T-commerce channel experience. TheT-commerce server application may run in the context of the T-commerceapplication server. The T-commerce application server may containweb-server and server side app server and middleware functions, such asin a full-featured back-end web-architecture applicationsinfrastructure.

Although much of the ‘shell’ of the overall T-commerce channel 114experience may be created by the code of the T-commerce application andthe T-commerce server application running, the actual brands may maketheir goods and services available through the brand channel 116. TheT-commerce application and the T-commerce server application access thebrand channel as the user shops (or is entertained by) whateverexperience the brand wants them to have (e.g., it is the viewing andshopping experience owned and publicized by a specific brand). With thislayered approach, the brand-specific e-commerce enabled TV channel maybe viewed as being ‘within’ the T-commerce channel experience. Forinstance, the brand portal may implement many of the assets of the brandchannel and e-commerce mechanisms themselves.

A brand channel may be developed through a brand channel templatefacility, where each brand populates its own channel per a referencedesign. The reference design may specify standard capabilities for astandard way of making purchases through the T-commerce system, such asby presenting SKUs for particular products. The brand channel may bemade to be similar to the brand's website offering, combined with, orlayered on top of, the website offering to make one, multi-domain brandT/e-brand channel site, and the like. This channel may be made to bescalable, such as per the capabilities of the device and pathway throughwhich the user enters the system. In embodiments, a channel may becreated from the brand's website, where content, image, video, and thelike, are pulled from the website in the creation of the brand channel.

In embodiments, the brand channel offering from the brand may be able toutilize the benefits of offering a product through a browser to a highdefinition smart television, such as combining product images andsupporting video streams. For example, consumers may want to have thecombined experience of viewing a product (e.g., a dress) and hearingfrom the designer (e.g., Tory Burch). The designer could, for example,be in the upper right hand corner telling the user about products in thespring lineup, such as by placing a link to the video next to the SKU ofthe product, or showing a video of the spring lineup with SKU linking tothe product currently being shown. In another example, a ‘how-to’ videomay be presented in association with a product, such as a tool, thematerials, equipment, and the like, used in the how-to video. Forinstance, a fly-fishing pole and fly-fishing tackle box as a starter kitproduct for beginners may be accompanied by a video on how to fly-fish.Once the user sees how to fly-fish, they may be more motivated topurchase the fly-fishing equipment.

The brand portal may be the e-commerce part of the brand channel,containing the specific goods and services shopping and buyingexperience. For instance, a user may utilize the brand portal with abrand specific shopping cart to checkout in completion of an e-commercetransaction. In an alternate embodiment, the shopping cart may beconfigured within the T-commerce channel, where the T-commerce channelexchanges purchasing information with the brand channel. A paymentfacility may be provided, where the T-commerce channel provides supportfor a seamless shopping experience across brands by providing therelevant payment information required by brand channels' respectivepayment systems. In some cases, for example, the brand channel may nothave a shopping cart, but rather the T-commerce system has the cart,where the T-commerce system has a feature that bridges channels orplatforms so a user action in one place is tracked and causes somethingto happen in another place, such as the user going back to theT-commerce system to buy something, check out, or the like. When a useris checking out, the user may have a ‘guest checkout’, ‘use my TVaccount’, that, once set up, enables the user to have a password thatworks for all channels (single sign-on). Purchases may be charged to theuser's credit card, such as through an order web app. The order web appmay have the address, billing address, what the user wants to buy, acredit card number, and the like. The order web app may need to get thatinformation to a location for the brand (e.g., Nike), that has a webpage and an order form. On the brand site, the information from when theuser was asked various questions exists; that is, the system providesstored information based on answers to questions within a brand channelor the T-commerce system, which can be passed to another relevantsystem, such as a brand's e-commerce website.

In embodiments, the user profile on the T-commerce system may storepurchase information (e.g., payment information), brand-specificinformation (e.g., shoe size), preferences (e.g., style, priceconstraints), and the like. The T-commerce system may utilize a paymentproxy that enables the system to go through the formatting to write tothe brand site as if the user filled it out directly. The brand site maybe the merchant of record, but the T-commerce system could be what itsees buying a pair of shoes. Payment confirmation may go to the orderweb app, which writes to the T-commerce channel (e.g., which now putsthe item in the ‘purchased’ bucket). The T-commerce system may utilize acontent proxy, such as for when a brand has content on its website, andthe T-commerce system is going to use a content proxy to either scrapecontent off the page or access an API at the brand for a product feed,which goes to the content proxy and the HTML 5 application of the brandchannel, which knows what to do with it.

The structure of the brand channel sites that are exposed through theT-commerce channel may be different from their web or mobileequivalents. While brands may use much of the content that came from thedevelopment of the web or mobile sites, their design may be adjusted totake advantage of the TV genre and the T-commerce channel style, such asemphasizing the interactive capabilities of the T-commerce system. Thesystem may provide for a site style and interfacing guide to help brandsdesign their T-commerce specific brand channel sites. Interfacing withthe brand channel content may be meta-data requirements-driven such thatit ‘registers’ and ‘integrates’ with the T-commerce system framework.For example there may be a single sign-on (SSO) system such that theconsumer can sign in once to the T-commerce channel and then (ifconfigured) be signed in to the brand sites. Another example is theremay be a consistent left-navigation set of controls that are placed andmanaged by the T-commerce channel application, but the contents anddestination of the navigation controls may be populated by the brandsite (e.g., there may be meta-data expected from the Brand to fill thatin). Other framework requirements may include meta-data to participatein the T-commerce channel favorites mechanism, or perhaps unified orderhistory. While the ultimate goal is for new brands to do minimal work toprovide a brand channel accessible to the T-commerce channel, the maingoal is to provide a high-quality visual presentation capability thatwill fulfill the highest expectation for high performance and capabilityso that the brands realize that this medium is far more than ‘better TVadvertising’ and ‘better Web site’ combined. That it is anext-generation interactive, commerce-enabled brand shopping andcommerce destination.

The advertisement facility 118 may be provided, which accesses aninventory of advertising assets, and serves them up to advertisingopportunities within the T-commerce channel, the TV home screen, andwith the brand channels. The T-commerce system may leverage the user ofthe advertisement facility to offer users targeted advertisements basedon the current viewing and their shopping history. While ads registeredin the ad server may come from the brand channels, the user shoppinghistory may be provided from the T-commerce channel, which may keeptrack of each TV and its registered users' brand channels, favorites,shopping carts, and the like. This information may be periodicallypushed to the advertisement facility 118 and to the analytics facility122 in order to allow ad personalization and individualization.

The payment facility 130 may provide an integral part of the electronicT-commerce system. The payment facility may facilitate financialexchange that takes place online between buyers and sellers. The contentof this exchange is usually some form of financial instrument, such asan encrypted credit care number. A consumer's web browser may deliverpayment instructions to a merchant (e.g., to a brand, or to the systemthrough the T-commerce channel), who forwards those instructions to anetwork bank. The bank, in turn, authenticates and verifies theindividual and disburses funds to the merchant. The merchant deliversthe purchase product upon customer verification. The system may notsupport its own payment processing capability, but instead rely onbrand-specific payment processing. However, the system may support aseamless shopping experience across brands by providing the relevantpayment information required by brand channel payment systems. Forexample, the system may provide a user with a payment page when theyplace an order within the T-commerce system, which allows users toupdate their payment profile, such as billing address, shipping address,credit card information, and the like, so that the system can providethis information to the brand channel payment system in execution of thepurchase from the brand.

The network management facility 113 may be supported by an operationalsupport system through which administrators and customer support teamscan monitor and manage all aspects of the daily operations. Thisincludes the resource management and scalability of the remote browserserver farm, the T-commerce channel portal and its back-end systems, thecontent of the user databases and brand assets, and the like.

The analytics facility 122 may allow the T-commerce channel to makeintelligent and timely decisions within the T-commerce system. Businessintelligence enabled analysis of information captured within theT-commerce channel application may provide access to use data thatprovides competitive advantage. The T-commerce channel is a doorway toT-commerce system across affiliated brand channels delivered viatelevision medium. The T-commerce channel enables a very rich,interactive and consistent television-based shopping experience forproducts and services sold by affiliated brand channels. Businessintelligence enabled analysis of information captured within T-commerceapplication is potentially a compelling opportunity. This enables thesystem to proactively work smarter and have a competitive advantagerather than react to crises and opportunities. This essentially, inturn, ushers in an environment whereby opportunities are capitalizedbefore the competition; problems are identified and resolved before theyescalate into crises; business processes, products, and services arereengineered in order to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty aproactive and efficient manner.

In embodiments, the analytics facility 122 may provide for hybrid datastream analytics. For example, considering a user on the system, thesystem may know (from past brand channel interactions) that the user'swife likes Tory Burch and Kate Spade, where the user lives, how oftenthey go shopping, and the like. The system can then go to a brandchannel, such as Bloomingdales, and request (subject to privacy): “whatare the Bloomingdale's households in the USA?” From the smart TVprocessor and memory, the system also knows what the user watches, andwhen, as well as, for example, what other brands the user and his wifeshop for. For instance, the system may know that the user watches ‘TheVoice’. From this information the system may determine which householdsare watching what show, and how this watching correlates to purchasesmade. The system can go to actual people, not just sampling andprojection; that is, the system may actually go ‘down’ to statisticallysignificant sections or individuals, rather than projecting up.Analytics can be applied to data for actual people, not just based on apanel. In embodiments, the system can reach millions of people(dramatically more than Nielsen or Comscore, for example, which track asmall subset of TV watchers).

It may be noted that the TV is unlike any other device because the TV isnot typically an individual's TV—it is often a group device, such as fora family or a couple. For instance, the user's daughter goes to AmericanGirl and puts products on a wish list, but the user's wife may buy them.The user's wife then places products on a wish list, and the user maybuy them. The system may derive family interplay from purchase behavior.For instance, suppose one user wants to hide what they bought, so theyset up a separate payment account with a separate payment account.Another family user only makes purchases one credit card. Through theseinterchanges, the system may be able to determine relation models. Forinstance, it the relationship model showing a ‘transparent relationship’versus the ‘opaque one’. The system may be able to derive intra-familyusage from the usage data.

In embodiments the system may provide for user ID management, where theuser is able to create a portable User ID that ties usage togetheracross user platforms. Within the television domain, every TV has aunique ID. The first time the TV is turned on, the system beginsbuilding a data model. The system may also be able to tell, such as fromusage data, if the TV is in the living room vs. the bedroom. One usersets up a profile and login to the bedroom TV. Now their login is theirpath (ID), so they can go to the neighbor's house and login. The usermay go to their tablet and have a unified account structure betweentheir tablet and TV. This capability may allow for personalization,where the system is able to personalize to users through the brandchannels. For example, a woman says, “I'm a size 6 and I wear a size 7Tory Burch flat”. The system may be able to take the concept ofpersonalization and push it through to the brand channel itself. If sheonly shops for flats, then the system may only show flats as a startingpoint for shopping for shoes. The system may only show products forwhich the user's size or preferences are in stock. The system may beable to take personalization and drive it all the way through, enablingthe system to provide a shopping experience that is designed for theuser. In embodiments, a user profile may be provided a sizing avatar,such as works across all channels.

The user experience through the system may include various userinteraction modes, such as entering the T-commerce channel and shoppingfor consumer products (‘window shopping’), managing favorites, managingtheir shopping cart, entering the brand channel and shopping for aspecific brand product, managing settings, and the like. Referring toFIG. 2, an embodiment user experience system process flow diagram 200 isshown, such as resulting from a typical shopping experience from a user.Note that the diagram does not show the initial site discovery,described in more detail herein. The process flow begins with the user102 turning on the CPE (e.g., smart TV) with a remote device 104 (e.g.,a remote control for the TV that has sensor-based pointingcapabilities).

The user experience may include the user entering a home dashboardscreen, such as by pressing a ‘home’ button on the remote device. Theremay be a T-commerce channel dedicated banner on the home dashboard, thatwhen selected, takes the user to the T-commerce channel. Thepresentation of the T-commerce channel may include a plurality of brandchannels, such as presented through an icon, logo, and the like. Theremay be ads presented at different levels within the system, such as atthe home dashboard level, at the T-commerce level, at a brand-channellevel, within category listings of brand channels, and the like. Theremay be a ‘what's hot’ presentation of products, such as reflectingproducts that are currently selling very well, such as based on anoverall market, a particular demographic market, the user's statedpreferences in their profile, the user's behavior as determined by theanalytics facility, and the like. A user may then navigate around thebrand-channel presentation within the T-commerce channel, and select abrand channel to enter. The user may then be able to navigate arounddepartments, sales, and the like. Alternatively, a user may enter abrand channel by clicking on a brand icon as presented in the T-commercechannel. Product visual presentations (e.g., images, videos, drawings,icons) may then be selected to view detail pertaining to the product,sale item, category, and the like. A user may then select and add theproduct to their ‘shopping bag’, a wish list, such as for the entireT-channel offering or per brand.

A user may then checkout as a guest or as a registered user. Informationentered by the user in the becoming a registered user of a brand may beused when returning to the brand channel at a later time. Thisinformation may also be used by the T-commerce system to populate aT-commerce system user profile (e.g., a user ‘wallet’) to be used acrossa plurality of participating brands channels, such as accessed through apasscode, and including user registration information (e.g., homeaddress, shipping address), user payment information (e.g., credit cardinformation, rewards information), user preferences (e.g., types ofclothes, shoe size, activities, vacation locations), and the like.Potentially, through the use of the T-commerce system profile, the usermay be able to enter a brand channel for the first time and already haveall the information on file to be a registered user of the brand, and assuch, be able to check out as a registered user without having to enterthat information into the brand channel because the user had previouslyentered that information, such as when registering with another brand orwhile populating the T-commerce system profile directly within theT-commerce channel. In addition, the user may log into the user'srewards account of a relevant brand, such as from within the brandchannel or when navigating within the T-commerce channel. User rewardaccounts may be linked to the user's T-commerce system profile, whichthen enable the user to easily manage their reward accounts from acentral location within the T-commerce system. The user experience mayalso include the ability to share their experience with friends andfamily through social network interconnectivity, such as sharing whatthey just purchased, information about a potential purchase, arecommendation to a friend, and the like. In addition, the T-commercesystem profile may provide a history of the user's experience, such asnavigation history, purchase history (e.g., total history, history witha particular brand, history in a category of products), and the like.The T-commerce system profile may be created for an individual, afamily, a shared group, and the like. For instance, a family may share afamily profile, but there may be individualized profile portions withinthe family profile, such as an individual's preferences. A passcode maybe provided for each individual within a group. A passcode may beprovided to one member of the group responsible for payment information.Alternately, each member of a household may have their own account,preferences, history tracking, and the like. This information may beutilized in analytics as discussed herein.

Continuing with the process flow diagram 200, the user then selects toenter the T-commerce system, such as through selecting a displayedT-commerce icon on the TV homepage through the remote device. Theselection (e.g., ‘click’ of the remote on the icon) is then received bythe CPE client 108. The CPE client requests, through the Internet to thedelivery platform 110, a remote editor from the delivery platformgateway 111. The delivery platform gateway allocates a free remoteeditor instance, and returns the remote editor IP address to the CPEclient. The CPE client then opens a persistent A/V streaming connectionfrom the remote browser 112. Streamed rendered content then begins toflow from the remote browser to the CPE client, such as corresponding toadditional user selections through the remote device. For instance, theuser, having selected to enter the T-commerce system, may be directed tothe T-commerce channel, and so streamed rendered content may flow fromthe T-commerce channel 114. In this instance, the remote browser wouldrequest web content from the T-commerce channel through the T-commercechannel portal 115, and that content would be streamed back through theremote browser to the CPE client. The user may then select to enter abrand channel 116, which would result in brand channel web content bedelivered back to the CPE client. This process repeats as the usernavigates through the T-commerce system user interface, such asdisplayed on the user's TV. In embodiments, the system may enablesingle-click functions, such as through a single-click to reach theT-commerce channel, to reach a brand channel, to select a specificproduct, to purchase a specific product, and the like.

In embodiments, the user may also utilize a second computing device inconcert with actions taken with the CPE, such as with a smart phone, atablet, a laptop computer, and the like. That is, the user may accessthe T-commerce system through the CPE and through the second computingdevice. For instance, the user may be accessing a brand site through theCPE, where the brand site is streaming audio-video content, while theuser is simultaneously viewing products through the same brand site ontheir tablet. The brand site may take advantage of this capability byoffering complementary content presentations through the TV and throughthe second computing device. For example, the TV may be streamingcontent related to makeup products while the user is able tointeractively ‘try on’ makeup through their tablet, such as through avirtual reality viewer facility where the system recognizes the physicalproduct in the real world and connects back to the brand channel. Thisability to coordinate usage of the T-commerce system through themultiple computing platforms may create a synergy that improves the usershopping experience beyond the use of the two computing platformscombined in separate, uncoordinated use.

In embodiments, the user may access the T-commerce system through thesecond computing device without ever utilizing the CPE, where the secondcomputing device jumps over the front-end of the T-commerce system, andgoes straight to the T-commerce channel 114 or the brand channel 116,without ever going to the remote browser streaming system through thedelivery platform 110. The second computing device, such as a tablet,may also utilize an app that can be put it in as a plug-in to thebrowser (like a TV for the streaming experience), or a client app can bedeployed for H.264 streaming right on the tablet. In this way, brandsmay be able to develop content for display to a TV that can also be usedfor a computer device, such as a tablet. Brands would now have multipleways of connecting through a user device to the T-commerce system, wherethe brand may be able to re-utilize the brand's website in an HTMLenvironment. Users are then enabled to shop through multipleviewing-access platforms, where either platform may act as the entrypoint for the other, such as with a single sign-on. In addition, entrypoints may be created by brands on their company website, enabling usersto enter the T-commerce system from brand sites, into a brand's channel,and back again.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system service may be inserted within athird-party device, such as a digital streaming device (e.g., a Rokubox), where the digital streaming device may not have a browser.

In embodiments, PCI compliance in a smart TV embodiment may go throughan order web app (e.g., a side chain). In the digital streaming devicewithout a browser, the system may have to be PCI compliant through theentire chain (e.g., go through the cloud to the T-commerce channel andbrand channels to the brand, and the like).

In embodiments, the user may access the T-commerce system through astandard television station channel or through a cable network cablesystem, such as by linking a product advertisement on the stationthrough an HTTP live streaming (HLS) player with an CPE client. In anexample, the brand may take out an ad on the station, where the user isable to connect to the T-commerce system through the ad linkage. Forinstance, suppose Nike decides to buy a 15 second spot in a channel. Inthat commercial, it says if you want to learn more about the shoe, youclick and go to the SKU page of the Nike Brand Channel and you can buyit with guest checkout. Nike will have created a destination for the TVclick-through for that product. The T-commerce system may provideinfrastructure that will point at the station, and other times it willpoint to T-commerce channel. The system may instruct the browser topoint to the appropriate location. In this instance, the T-commercesystem may jump over the T-commerce channel and take the user down tothe SKU (and the system goes to that URL). A ‘back’ button would nowtake the user back to the station (not back to see the other brands). Inthis way, the T-commerce system keeps track of where the user enteredthe system, so that the user can be returned to their point of entrywhen they go ‘back’. In a cable TV scenario, the cable provider may needto embed the CPE client in their application, with the ability totransfer over to the brand channel, with hand off and hand back to thecable provider. The cable provider could also provide connectivity tothe T-commerce system via the browser, such as to transfer out to thelocal browser that points to a brand, skipping the remote browser ofDelivery Platform. In this way, the user would get a browser-likeexperience rather than a streaming experience. The T-commerce system maydetermine the method of delivery based on the capability of the CPE.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may utilize automatic contentrecognition (located either locally on the CPE or within the T-commercesystem) as a method of linking content being viewed on the television toa brand product offering through the T-commerce system. For instance,the user may be watching television through cable, where the televisionhas embedded technology for automatic content recognition. The automaticcontent recognition system may monitor the video, find a productfingerprint, and match the product fingerprint to products within theT-commerce system. Once the product is identified, the system may linkthe product to the user's CPE screen and ask the user to, for instance,‘click here if you want to see the LeBron shoe’. If the user clicks,they are taken through the T-commerce system to the product.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may provide for remote browserrendering of T-commerce content to user equipment in a brand offeringproduct environment, including the determination of the nativecapabilities of a CPE, and rendering content through a remote browser tothe CPE so that the user may utilize the brand content services of theT-commerce system even when the CPE does not have native capabilities,such as a native full web browser, for direct viewing of web formattedcontent. In the instance when the CPE has native capabilities, theT-commerce system may provide the CPE with an interface to the brandcontent services of the T-commerce system without the use of a remotebrowser.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may comprise a server-basedmulti-media content delivery platform (DP) comprising a plurality ofbrowsers, adapted to serve a plurality of a television-based customerpremises equipment (CPE) units through a remote protocol across theInternet, and where the browser renders web-based multi-media content tothe CPE on a display based on whether the CPE is adapted to renderweb-based content with CPE native facilities; a television-basede-commerce (T-commerce) facility in communicative connection with theDP, and through at least one of the browsers to the CPE, the T-commercefacility providing access to a plurality of e-commerce content offeringsthrough a CPE graphical user interface; and at least one brand-specifice-commerce product content communication channel (brand channel) as atleast one of the plurality of e-commerce content offerings, the brandchannel presenting brand-specific e-commerce product content, aspresented though the CPE graphical user interface, the brand channelbeing managed by a brand enterprise. The determination of whether theCPE is adapted to render web-based content with CPE native facilitiesmay be determined when the CPE connects with the DP, where if CPE nativefacilities do not meet a minimum set of predetermined criteria, abrowser is assigned to the CPE for rendering content. The display may becomprised within the CPE. The display may be connected to the CPE, suchas when the CPE is a television and the display is the display of thetelevision (e.g., the CPE is a Blu-Ray player connected to a television.

In embodiments, the CPE may be a smart television, a Blu-ray device, adigital media-streaming device, and the like. The CPE may comprise atelevision client through which the CPE is capable of connecting tonetworked computer devices on the Internet. A user of the CPE mayinterface with the CPE through the CPE graphical user interface with aremote device, the remote device adapted to provide point-and-clickfunctionality through sensor-based control, where the sensor-basedcontrol is through a motion-sensing sensor. For example, the sensor maybe an inertial measurement unit, accelerometer, and the like. Brands maybe enabled to serve relevant libraries of brand-related video and imagecontent to the CPE. Users of the CPE may be enabled to browse and shopthrough libraries of brand content using the CPE. User navigation may betracked as a user of the CPE navigates amongst the e-commerce contentofferings where brand content may reside. The DP may deliver content tothe CPE dependent on the type of device the user is operating as a CPE.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may provide an interface to userCPEs that have capabilities for local browser rendering of T-commercecontent in a brand offering product environment. For instance, a smartTV client may be capable of supporting service requirements of thesystem (i.e., removing the need for remote browsers), which includes thecombination of a smart TV client with embedded browser to enableshopping a brand channel through the T-commerce system.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may comprise a server-basedmulti-media content delivery platform (DP) comprising a plurality ofbrowsers, adapted to serve a plurality of a television-based customerpremises equipment (CPE) units through a remote protocol across theInternet, and wherein the at least one renders web-based multi-mediacontent to the CPE based on the DP determining that the CPE is notadapted to render web-based content and provides direct web-basedmulti-media content to the CPE based on the DP determining that the CPEhas native facilities capable of direct rendering of web-based content;a television-based e-commerce (T-commerce) facility in communicativeconnection with the DP, and through at least one of the browsers to theCPE, the T-commerce facility providing access to a plurality ofe-commerce content offerings through a CPE graphical user interface; andat least one brand-specific e-commerce product content communicationchannel (brand channel) as at least one of the plurality of e-commercecontent offerings, the brand channel presenting brand-specifice-commerce product content, as presented though the CPE graphical userinterface, the brand channel being managed by a brand enterprise. Inembodiments, the native facilities may be browser capable of directrendering of web-based content.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may provide for a single-clickproduct purchase function (e.g., a single-click button on the home page,included in the T-commerce channel, included in a brand channel, and thelike) from a user of a CPE within the T-commerce system, where asingle-click user experience is provided for accessing and purchasing abrand product through the CPE and brand channel. In embodiments, theT-commerce system may comprise a server-based multi-media contentdelivery platform (DP) comprising a plurality of browsers, adapted toserve a plurality of a television-based customer premises equipment(CPE) units through a remote protocol across the Internet; atelevision-based e-commerce (T-commerce) facility in communicativeconnection with the DP, and through at least one of the browsers to theCPE, the T-commerce facility providing access to a plurality ofe-commerce content offerings through a CPE graphical user interface; atleast one brand-specific e-commerce product content communicationchannel (brand channel) as at least one of the plurality of e-commercecontent offerings, the brand channel presenting brand-specifice-commerce product content, as presented though the CPE graphical userinterface, the brand channel being managed by a brand enterprise; and apayment facility, wherein a user of the CPE executes a purchase of aproduct presented by the brand channel through a single-action purchasebutton displayed through the CPE graphical interface utilizing userpurchase information previously provided by the user to the paymentfacility. In embodiments, the single-action purchase button may bedepressed utilizing the remote device.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may provide brand productadvertisement, recommendations, promotions, and the like delivery to aCPE through the T-commerce system, such as delivery of productadvertisements through the home page or channel layers (e.g., T-commercechannel, brand channel) to the CPE. In embodiments, the T-commercesystem may comprise a server-based multi-media content delivery platform(DP) comprising a plurality of browsers, adapted to serve a plurality ofa television-based customer premises equipment (CPE) units through aremote protocol across the Internet; a television-based e-commerce(T-commerce) facility in communicative connection with the DP, andthrough at least one of the browsers to the CPE, the T-commerce facilityproviding access to a plurality of e-commerce content offerings througha CPE graphical user interface; at least one brand-specific e-commerceproduct content communication channel (brand channel) as at least one ofthe plurality of e-commerce content offerings, the brand channelpresenting brand-specific e-commerce product content, as presentedthough the CPE graphical user interface, the brand channel being managedby a brand enterprise; and an advertisement facility, wherein theadvertisement facility delivers an advertisement through the CPEgraphical user interface. In embodiments, the advertisement may berelated to a brand product being displayed to a user through the CPEgraphical user interface.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may provide for tracking of userbrowsing navigation through a multi-layered T-commerce system, such astracking the click-navigation path of users through the system in orderto provide the proper return path (e.g., dependent upon how the userentered a particular site or layer within the distributed web system).For instance, the T-commerce system may keep track of the browsingactivity so the user can hop back from one brand channel to a region ofthe T-commerce system, such as a shopping plaza with multiple brandsavailable, then over to another brand channel. In embodiments, theT-commerce system may comprise a server-based multi-media contentdelivery platform (DP) comprising a plurality of browsers, adapted toserve a plurality of a television-based customer premises equipment(CPE) units through a remote protocol across the Internet; atelevision-based e-commerce (T-commerce) facility in communicativeconnection with the DP, and through at least one of the browsers to theCPE, the T-commerce facility providing access to a plurality ofe-commerce content offerings through a CPE graphical user interface; atleast one brand-specific e-commerce product content communicationchannel (brand channel) as at least one of the plurality of e-commercecontent offerings, the brand channel presenting brand-specifice-commerce product content, as presented though the CPE graphical userinterface, the brand channel being managed by a brand enterprise; and abrowsing navigation facility, the browsing navigation facility enablinga user of the CPE to navigate amongst the plurality of e-commercecontent offerings of different brands through the CPE graphical userinterface, wherein the navigation is enabled at least in part throughthe tracking of the user's browsing through the CPE user interface withrespect to content of at least one brand. In embodiments, the trackingof the user's browsing may enable returning to a previous browsinglocation that is outside the content of brand content currently beingbrowsed by a user.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may provide for consumer productanalytics, such as provided within the system with regard to theT-commerce brand layered system. In embodiments, the T-commerce systemmay comprise a server-based multi-media content delivery platform (DP)comprising a plurality of browsers, adapted to serve a plurality of atelevision-based customer premises equipment (CPE) units through aremote protocol across the Internet; a television-based e-commerce(T-commerce) facility in communicative connection with the DP, andthrough at least one of the browsers to the CPE, the T-commerce facilityproviding access to a plurality of e-commerce content offerings througha CPE graphical user interface; at least one brand-specific e-commerceproduct content communication channel (brand channel) as at least one ofthe plurality of e-commerce content offerings, the brand channelpresenting brand-specific e-commerce product content, as presentedthough the CPE graphical user interface, the brand channel being managedby a brand enterprise; a payment facility for the purchase of a productas presented through a brand channel; and an analytics facility, whereinat least one of the browsing behavior and the purchase behavior of auser of the CPE is utilized at least in part to predict future purchasebehavior. Further, the T-commerce system may comprise an advertisementfacility, where the prediction of future purchase behavior is utilizedin the improved targeting of advertisement delivery through theadvertisement facility.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may provide for a parallelwebsite-pointing facility for multi-platform user experience in a remotebrowser based T-commerce environment, such as through the user's abilityto simultaneously access a brand site through the CPE and throughanother device, such as a tablet. In embodiments, the T-commerce systemmay comprise a server-based multi-media content delivery platform (DP)comprising a plurality of browsers, adapted to serve a plurality of atelevision-based customer premises equipment (CPE) units through aremote protocol across the Internet; a television-based e-commerce(T-commerce) facility in communicative connection with the DP, andthrough at least one of the browsers to the CPE, the T-commerce facilityproviding access to a plurality of e-commerce content offerings througha CPE graphical user interface; at least one brand-specific e-commerceproduct content communication channel (brand channel) as at least one ofthe plurality of e-commerce content offerings, the brand channelpresenting brand-specific e-commerce product content, as presentedthough the CPE graphical user interface, the brand channel being managedby a brand enterprise; and a web-based computing device capable ofaccessing the plurality of e-commerce content offerings through the DP,wherein the user utilizes the web-based computing device tosimultaneously access the web-based product being accessed through theCPE. In embodiments, the web-based computing device may be a mobilecomputing device. The CPE may access product content through at leastone of the browsers of the DP, and the web-based computing device mayutilize its own native browser for access to the product content.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may provide payment card industry(PCI) compliance in a remote browser based T-commerce environment, suchas tracking and maintaining PCI compliance throughout the system,especially as applied to a remote browser system with multiple layers ofcommerce channels, such as the T-commerce channel overlaying the brandchannels. In embodiments, the T-commerce system may comprise aserver-based multi-media content delivery platform (DP) comprising aplurality of browsers, adapted to serve a plurality of atelevision-based customer premises equipment (CPE) units through aremote protocol across the Internet; a television-based e-commerce(T-commerce) facility in communicative connection with the DP, andthrough at least one of the browsers to the CPE, the T-commerce facilityproviding access to a plurality of e-commerce content offerings througha CPE graphical user interface; at least one brand-specific e-commerceproduct content communication channel (brand channel) as at least one ofthe plurality of e-commerce content offerings, the brand channelpresenting brand-specific e-commerce product content, as presentedthough the CPE graphical user interface, the brand channel being managedby a brand enterprise, and a payment facility for managing the paymentsof products selected for purchase by a user of the CPE, wherein thepayment facility manages payment card industry (PCI) compliance for thepurchases from the plurality of e-commerce content offerings.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may provide for automatic loadbalancing between client-based browser usage and remote browser usage ina T-commerce environment, such as including the capability to determinebrowser capability of a CPE to support a variety of system requirements(e.g., Blu-ray player with no browser vs. older TV with weak browser vs.newer TV with strong browser). In embodiments, the T-commerce system maycomprise a server-based multi-media content delivery platform (DP)comprising a plurality of browsers, adapted to serve a plurality of atelevision-based customer premises equipment (CPE) units through aremote protocol across the Internet, wherein each of the plurality ofCPEs is evaluated by the DP for native browser capability, and where theDP connects the plurality of CPEs to at least one of the plurality ofbrowsers if determined to be below a predetermined threshold for nativebrowser capability; a television-based e-commerce (T-commerce) facilityin communicative connection with the DP, and through at least one of thebrowsers to the CPE, the T-commerce facility providing access to aplurality of e-commerce content offerings through a CPE graphical userinterface; at least one brand-specific e-commerce product contentcommunication channel (brand channel) as at least one of the pluralityof e-commerce content offerings, the brand channel presentingbrand-specific e-commerce product content, as presented though the CPEgraphical user interface, the brand channel being managed by a brandenterprise.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may provide a layered purchasecheckout system in a television-based brand-offering environment, suchas when the user's purchase ‘cart’ is in the T-commerce channel, notwith the brand channel. For instance, the user may be viewing a productwithin a brand channel, and click to add the product to their cart, butthe system maintains the cart at the T-commerce channel level andexchanges purchase data with the brand at the point of sale. Inembodiments, the T-commerce system may comprise a server-basedmulti-media content delivery platform (DP) comprising a plurality ofbrowsers, adapted to serve a plurality of a television-based customerpremises equipment (CPE) units through a remote protocol across theInternet; a television-based e-commerce (T-commerce) facility incommunicative connection with the DP, and through at least one of thebrowsers to the CPE, the T-commerce facility providing access to aplurality of e-commerce content offerings through a CPE graphical userinterface; at least one brand-specific e-commerce product contentcommunication channel (brand channel) as at least one of the pluralityof e-commerce content offerings, the brand channel presentingbrand-specific e-commerce product content, as presented though the CPEgraphical user interface, the brand channel being managed by a brandenterprise; and a payment facility for managing payment for purchasesmade by a user of the CPE amongst the plurality of e-commerce contentofferings, wherein the payment facility executes a purchase of a brandchannel product, and then reconciles the purchase with the brandenterprise.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may provide for concurrent productimage viewing and product video streaming to a CPE in a brand-channeloffering environment. For instance, the system may provide for thecapability to show the user product images and data concurrently with arelated video stream to the CPE, such as concurrently showing an imageof the product and a trusted personality discussing the product. Inembodiments, the T-commerce system may comprise a server-basedmulti-media content delivery platform (DP) comprising a plurality ofbrowsers, adapted to serve a plurality of a television-based customerpremises equipment (CPE) units through a remote protocol across theInternet; a television-based e-commerce (T-commerce) facility incommunicative connection with the DP, and through at least one of thebrowsers to the CPE, the T-commerce facility providing access to aplurality of e-commerce content offerings through a CPE graphical userinterface; at least one brand-specific e-commerce product contentcommunication channel (brand channel) as at least one of the pluralityof e-commerce content offerings, the brand channel presentingbrand-specific e-commerce product content, as presented though the CPEgraphical user interface, the brand channel being managed by a brandenterprise, wherein a the brand-specific e-commerce product content isat least one image of the product and at least one item of video-basedcontent related to the product. In embodiments, the video-based contentmay be a multi-media presentation of the product, a recommendation forthe product, an advertisement for the product, and the like.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may provide for social networkderived product recommendations in a brand offering product environment,such as social network recommendations linked with brand-channel productofferings. For instance, a user may be viewing a product and beingpresented recommendations from their friends based on the user's profile(e.g., T-commerce profile, social network profile). In embodiments, theT-commerce system may comprise a server-based multi-media contentdelivery platform (DP) comprising a plurality of browsers, adapted toserve a plurality of a television-based customer premises equipment(CPE) units through a remote protocol across the Internet; atelevision-based e-commerce (T-commerce) facility in communicativeconnection with the DP, and through at least one of the browsers to theCPE, the T-commerce facility providing access to a plurality ofe-commerce content offerings through a CPE graphical user interface; atleast one brand-specific e-commerce product content communicationchannel (brand channel) as at least one of the plurality of e-commercecontent offerings, the brand channel presenting brand-specifice-commerce product content, as presented though the CPE graphical userinterface, the brand channel being managed by a brand enterprise,wherein a social media based recommendation is presented through the CPEgraphical user interface along with the product content. In embodiments,a first user may use the CPE, and the social media based recommendationis provided from a second user who is listed as a friend of the firstuser on a social media facility. A first user may use the CPE, and thesocial media based recommendation is provided from a second user who iscelebrity that the first user has made association with.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may provide the managing ‘back’navigation paths through brand channels with content deployed acrossvarious systems and devices. For instance, a ‘back button’ may bemanaged so that a user is returned to the appropriate environment (e.g.,the brand channel), after having been sent to another environment (e.g.,an environment for purchasing, an environment for viewing content, andthe like), such as when navigating between different devices. Inembodiments, the T-commerce system may comprise a server-basedmulti-media content delivery platform (DP) comprising a plurality ofbrowsers, adapted to serve a plurality of a television-based customerpremises equipment (CPE) units through a remote protocol across theInternet by a user; a television-based e-commerce (T-commerce) facilityin communicative connection with the DP, and through at least one of thebrowsers to the CPE, the T-commerce facility providing access to aplurality of e-commerce content offerings through a CPE graphical userinterface; at least one brand-specific e-commerce product contentcommunication channel (brand channel) as at least one of the pluralityof e-commerce content offerings, the brand channel presentingbrand-specific e-commerce product content, as presented though the CPEgraphical user interface, the brand channel being managed by a brandenterprise; and a web-based computing device capable of accessing theplurality of e-commerce content offerings through the DP, wherein thecomputing device is used by the same user as with the CPE, where the DPtracks the relative navigation of the user's accesses by the CPE and thecomputing device, with the DP managing handover between devices as theuser navigates between the CPE and the computing device. In embodiments,the computing device may be a mobile computing device. The user may belogged on to both the CPE and the computing device.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may provide a brand channelenvironment for hosting both ‘TV channels’ and web-based applications(e.g., for smart phones, tablets) for disparate brands, such as becauseweb-based application content is visual, these apps and TV channels maywork well together in the same brand channel environment. Inembodiments, the T-commerce system may comprise a server-basedmulti-media content delivery platform (DP) comprising a plurality ofbrowsers, adapted to serve a plurality of a television-based customerpremises equipment (CPE) units through a remote protocol across theInternet and a mobile computer device adapted to run web-basedapplications; a television-based e-commerce (T-commerce) facility incommunicative connection with the DP, to the mobile computing device,and through at least one of the browsers to the CPE, the T-commercefacility providing access to a plurality of e-commerce content offeringsto the CPE through a CPE graphical user interface and to the mobilecomputing device through the delivery of web-based application data; andat least one brand-specific e-commerce product content communicationchannel (brand channel) as at least one of the plurality of e-commercecontent offerings to the CPE and at least one web-based application tothe mobile computing device, the brand channel presenting brand-specifice-commerce product content, as presented though the CPE graphical userinterface, the brand channel being managed by a brand enterprise. Inembodiments, the mobile computing device may be a mobile phone, atablet, and the like. The web-based application adapted to run on themobile computing device and the e-commerce content offering adapted foruse with the CPE may be both managed by the brand enterprise.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may enable the use of a second,camera-enabled device, with the television-based CPE used in brandchannel interaction. For instance, a camera-enabled device (e.g. smartphone, tablet) allows for user interactions, such as allowing a user totry on make-up, try on clothing, or customize a product to the user'simage, with the image of the user captured on the camera-enabled deviceand the resulting, processed images (e.g., the user wearing the selectedmake-up or item of clothing) being rendered on the large screen of theCPE. In embodiments, the T-commerce system may comprise a server-basedmulti-media content delivery platform (DP) comprising a plurality ofbrowsers, adapted to serve a plurality of a television-based customerpremises equipment (CPE) units through a remote protocol across theInternet, and a mobile computer device adapted to run web-basedapplications and comprising a camera for viewing a user of the mobilecomputer device; a television-based e-commerce (T-commerce) facility incommunicative connection with the DP, and through at least one of thebrowsers to the CPE, the T-commerce facility providing access to aplurality of e-commerce content offerings through a CPE graphical userinterface; at least one brand-specific e-commerce product contentcommunication channel (brand channel) as at least one of the pluralityof e-commerce content offerings, the brand channel presentingbrand-specific e-commerce product content, as presented though the CPEgraphical user interface, the brand channel being managed by a brandenterprise, wherein the mobile computing device is running a web-basedapplication managed by the DP in support of and in conjunction with thepresentation of the brand-specific e-commerce product content served tothe CPE. In embodiments, the web-based application may utilize thecamera to create images of the user in conjunction with thebrand-specific e-commerce product content, such as the user being ableto simulate their use of the brand-specific e-commerce product content,the user being able to simulate what they would look like when using thebrand-specific e-commerce product content, the user being able to applythe brand-specific e-commerce product content to them in a simulation ofthe use of the brand-specific e-commerce product content, and the like.The web-based application may provide for a camera-based user interfacefor manipulating a simulation associated with the use of thebrand-specific e-commerce product content, such as the camera being usedto image the user and to incorporate the user into the simulation, andcreating an image of the user simulated with the brand-specifice-commerce product content.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may provide for a CPE deviceidentifier as a central identifier for customer demographic,psychographic, transactional, and the like, data modeling that storesdata about user interactions across multiple brand channels. The uniqueCPE device ID may be used as the key, a seed, and the like, of a datamodel for storing and tracking actions for the owner/users of the CPEacross the brand channels. In embodiments, the T-commerce system maycomprise a server-based multi-media content delivery platform (DP)comprising a plurality of browsers, adapted to serve a plurality of atelevision-based customer premises equipment (CPE) units through aremote protocol across the Internet, wherein the CPE utilizes a uniquedevice identifier to identify it when interacting with Internetfacilities; a television-based e-commerce (T-commerce) facility incommunicative connection with the DP, and through at least one of thebrowsers to the CPE, the T-commerce facility providing access to aplurality of e-commerce content offerings through a CPE graphical userinterface; at least one brand-specific e-commerce product contentcommunication channel (brand channel) as at least one of the pluralityof e-commerce content offerings, the brand channel presentingbrand-specific e-commerce product content, as presented though the CPEgraphical user interface, the brand channel being managed by a brandenterprise; and an analytics facility that tracks the CPE unique deviceidentifier when a user of the CPE accesses content through e-commercecontent offerings, and utilizes that tracking information to derive atleast one of user browsing behavior and user purchase behaviorinformation to help predict future behavior by the user. In embodiments,the T-commerce system may further comprise an advertisement facility,where the prediction of future behavior may be utilized in the improvedtargeting of advertisement delivery through the advertisement facility.

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may provide for at productconfigurator, such as for configuring a product, configuring a personalavatar for product matching, and the like. For instance, a user may beable to use a product configurator to configure a product that iscustomizable. For example, a child's doll may be customizable, were theuser designs their own doll, such as the doll's physical features,clothing, and the like, in a made-to-order fashion. This capability maybe provided as a brand service or through the T-commerce channel. In amore general use-case, the user may apply himself or herself to aproduct configurator to create an avatar that matches the range of theirclothing preferences. A user may input to the product configurator thecloths sizes they wear, neck measurement, height, shoe size, in-seamlength, hat size, and the like. Additionally, the user may input fashionpreferences, including style, fabrics, patterns, seasonal needs based onthe user's location, preferred brands, and the like. The user's avatarmay then be used by brands to identify products that match the user'savatar. Brands, as well as the T-commerce channel more broadly, may usethe avatar to present only those products and brands that match theuser's requirements as reflected in their avatar. The avatar may be usedas the basis of categorization and prioritization of products andbrands, and the like. For example, a 13-year old girl from the U.S. wholives in Miami may be only presented with brands and products that matchthat profile. In addition, the 13-year old girl may enter additionalpreferences to narrow the products and brands being offered to thosethat specifically match her profile and preferences. In this way theT-commerce system acts as an automatic search engine, presenting onlythose products that would be of interest to the user. These preferencesmay also help in the targeting of advertisements, sales, promotions, andthe like, such as through the analytics facility as described herein. Inaddition, an avatar may be created for an individual brand channel, butthen, with permission from the user, applied to other brands, or to allthe brand offerings through the T-commerce channel. In another instance,a user may have a user ID for different brands, where the T-commercesystem provides a facility for linking the IDs together, thus enablingthe sharing of user preference data across brands. For example, a brandID may be the user's reward program ID, and the T-commerce system linksthese reward program IDs together.

CPE Clients

Referring to FIG. 3, a top-level embodiment block diagram 300 ispresented of a CPE 106, showing a CPE client 108, a CPE Operating system318, a CPE API 316, a CPE app software development kit (SDK) and API314. In embodiments, a CPE 106 may comprise a CPE operating system 318which may comprise a number of APIs such as an API for directvideo/audio decoding such as an H.264 decoder 320, rendering APIs for 2Dor 3D images or both, a low level socket network API, a remotecontroller API 322, and the like. In embodiments, the CPE client 108 maybe a native application or a web application running on the CPE 106. TheCPE client 108 may comprise an embedded (micro) browser 302, an inputtransmitter 304, a media receiver 308, DP gateway discovery 312, digitalrights management 306, adaptive stream service 310, session manager 314,and the like.

In embodiments, the CPE client 108 may: (1) communicate with thedelivery platform 110; (2) interface to the APIs in the CPE operatingsystem 318; (3) manage the bi-directional IP-based protocol across theInternet connection of the CPE 106; (4) manage buffers andinstrumentation of connection speed and may be enabled to communicaterelevant information to the delivery platform 110 for purposes ofadjusting network parameters, rate-adaptive compression, or otherwisepreventing poor user experience; (5) manage the identification of anappropriate DNS or IP address for connection to the delivery platform110; (6) handle authentication with the delivery platform 110 which maybe based on a MAC address; (7) handle session management with thedelivery platform 110 for both online and offline user interactions; (8)handle the switching of the connection mode into an encrypted mode, suchas HTTPS and the like, for the transmission of sensitive informationsuch as user payment information, credit card numbers, and the like; (9)and the like.

In embodiments, the DP gateway discovery 312 functionality may comprisea discovery services list (DSL), a preinstalled ordered list of globallymanaged hostnames or IP addresses at which delivery platform gatewaydiscovery services 502, described later herein, may be located, and thelike. The list may be comprised of XML formatted data representing anordered list of the delivery platform gateway discovery services 502,and the like.

Referring to FIG. 4, a top-level embodiment block diagram 400 is shownof a possible connection scheme to support a user's 102 purchases. Inembodiments, the user 102 may interact with a CPE 106 using a remotedevice 104. The CPE client 108 may comprise an embedded (micro) browser302, which may open a secure HTTP connection directly with a brandchannel's 116 brand payment service 404. The user 102 may then providetheir payment information such as credit card, billing/shipping address,and the like, directly to the brand payment service 404. Thus, in thisembodiment, the user's 102 confidential information need not betransferred through the delivery platform 110.

Delivery Platform

Referring to FIG. 5, a top-level embodiment block diagram 500 ispresented illustrating possible interactions between a user 102, a CPEclient 108, a plurality of delivery platform gateway discovery services502, and a plurality of delivery platforms 110. Each delivery platform110 may comprise a delivery platform gateway 111, a plurality of remotebrowser servers 404, wherein each remote browser server 404 may comprisea plurality of remote browsers 112. In embodiments, the deliveryplatform gateway 111 may manage the pool of available DP remote browsers112 and act as a load balancer across the plurality of remote browserservers 404. A user 102 may interact with a CPE 106 using a remotedevice 104 or other means to start a session. In embodiments, a CPEclient 108 may interact with one or more of a plurality of platformgateway discovery services 502 to identify a delivery platform 110 withwhich to interact Referring to FIG. 6, a top-level embodiment blockdiagram 600 is presented illustrating a sequence of interactions betweena CPE client 108 and a delivery platform 110. In embodiments, the CPEclient 108 may undergo initial site discovery wherein the CPE client 108requests the IP address of a delivery platform gateway 111 from one ormore of a plurality of delivery platform gateway discovery services 502.A delivery platform gateway discovery service 502 may respond to therequest from the CPE client 108 with the IP address of a deliveryplatform gateway 111 where the IP address may be chosen for geographyproximity to the CPE client 108. The CPE client 108 may then send arequest for a remote browser to the delivery platform gateway 111. Thedelivery platform gateway 111 may dedicate an available DP remotebrowser 112 to that CPE client 108 and respond with a host port for thenewly dedicated remote browser 112. The CPE client 108 may then openpersistent event and audio/visual connections with the remote browser112. A session may comprise bi-directional communications over theseestablished connections. The DP remote browser 112 may deliver, to itsassociated CPE client 108, audio/video streams comprising web content,text, images, data, video, and the like, received from the T-commercechannel 114, brand channels 116, and the like. The DP remote browser 112may receive events such as cursor movements, click, and the like fromthe CPE client 108. Upon completion of a session, the CPE client 108 mayterminate the session with the remote browser 112. Upon termination ofthe session, the remote browser 112 may announce its new availability tothe delivery platform gateway 111.

In embodiments, the DP remote browser 112 may be implemented usingindustry standards such as a Web Kit layout engine layered on top ofaudio and video encoders such as an H.264 video encoder, and the like.In embodiments, the DP remote browser 112 may support HTTP/1.1, HTML5,CSS 2.1, JavaScript 1.8.5 compliance, JQuery 1.9, JQuery UI 1.9, and thelike. In embodiments, DP remote browsers 112 may use graphic processingunits, CPUs, with appropriate drivers to facilitate run-time performancesuch as video encoding, and the like. In embodiments, the DP remotebrowser 112 may be capable of receiving a plurality of input types fromremote devices 104 and the CPE client 108 such as click events, cursormovement, coordinates, button presses, and the like. The DP remotebrowser 112 may then reflect the received input as input to the DPremote browser 112. The DP remote browser 112 may also format thereceived input into a proper format for use by an analytics facility122, discussed later herein. In embodiments, when a user 102 locates thecursor on a text field, the DP remote browser 112 may provide a pop-upkeyboard for user 102 input rather than utilize a locally availablekeyboard on the CPE 106.

In embodiments, each of the plurality of delivery platforms 110 maycomprise a unified high-performance elastic cloud in the form of aplurality of virtual machines and storage to host and run the remotebrowser servers 404, remote browsers 112, and the like. In embodiments,the virtual machines of the delivery platform 110 may be hosted on localhardware, in a cloud environment or in a hybrid environment comprisingboth local hardware and one or more cloud environments. There may bemultiple, geographically distributed deployments of the virtual machineson which delivery platforms 110 may be hosted. The delivery platforms110 may have basic redundancy, fail-over capabilities, and the likesupported in cloud environments, local hardware environments, and hybridenvironments.

In embodiments, the run-time environment for the DP remote browsers 112on the deployment platform 110 may store all web-logs, such as URL andinput device's 106 event logs, and the like, occurring via the DP remotebrowser 112. The run-time environment may be able to abstract the DPremote browser 112 from the streaming protocol support. The run-timeenvironment on delivery platform 110 may be able to control DP remotebrowsers 112, such as start, stop, restart, and the like. The run-timeenvironment on the delivery platform 110 may be able to reuse instancesof the DP remote browser 112 to reduce initial response time to requestsfor a DP remote browser 112. The DP gateway 111 may support caching forsome of the brand content and adaptive streaming based on networkconditions.

Payment Facility

Electronic payment is an integral part of electronic commerce systems.Electronic payment systems typically facilitate financial exchanges thattake place between buyers and sellers. The content of these exchanges isusually some form of financial instrument, such as encrypted credit cardnumber. A consumer's Web browser delivers payment instructions to amerchant, who forwards those instructions to a network bank. The bank,in turn, authenticates and verifies the individual and disburses fundsto the merchant. The merchant delivers the purchased product uponcustomer verification.

Referring to FIG. 7, a top-level embodiment block diagram 700 ispresented illustrating interactions between the user 102, the CPE client108, the delivery platform 110, the T-Commerce channel 114, a brandchannel 116, and means of payment processing. In embodiments, theT-Commerce channel 114 may not support its own payment processingcapability but rather rely on the brand channels' 116 payment facilities130. In embodiments, the T-Commerce channel 114 may comprise a globalcart 702 whose contents are reflective of the contents of a plurality ofbrand carts 706 associated with individual brand channels 116. Thepayment facility 130 may comprise a plurality of individual brandpayment gateways 704 wherein each brand payment gateway 704 may beassociated with a brand cart 706. In embodiments, a CPE client 108 mayinteract with an API 316 to launch an embedded (micro) browser 302through which the user 102 may interact with the brand payment gateway704.

In embodiments, a user 102 of the T-commerce channel 114 environment maybe presented with a payment page to enable the user 102 to enter orupdate payment profile information such as billing address, shippingaddress, credit card number, and the like. In embodiments, the paymentprofile information may be provided, as appropriate, to a plurality ofbrand payment gateways 704 to facilitate a seamless shopping experiencefor the user 102 across a plurality of brand channels 116.

In embodiments, the CPE client 108 may facilitate the establishment ofan identifier such as a user name, avatar, and the like which mayuniquely identify an individual user 102 of a CPE 106 where the CPE 106which may have a plurality of users 102. This identifier, in conjunctionwith information that uniquely identifies the CPE 106 (e.g. MAC address)may uniquely identify a user 102 within the T-Commerce channel 114establishing a unique user ID. Establishment of a unique user ID mayfacilitate personalization such as tracking information related to eachuser's 102 actions such as “Add to Favorites”, “Add to Wish list”,additions to the global cart 702, and the like in terms of the uniqueuser ID. However, if the only identifying information is the unique userID, there may be limits to the personalization provided by theT-Commerce channel 114. In a non-limiting example, this may result inrandom brands being displayed to the user 102 relative to sales,trending information, brand promotion banners, and the like.

In embodiments, each unique user 102 may be given an option to definedetailed membership information for use by the T-Commerce system. Inembodiments, the membership information may comprise mandatory profileinformation such as name, email, member login, password, and the like.In embodiments, the membership information may comprise optionalpreference information such as hobbies, interests, gender, age, and thelike. In embodiments, the membership information may comprise paymentinformation such as billing address, shipping address, credit cardnumbers, and the like. In embodiments, the member login and associatedmembership information may be separate from the information associatedwith the unique user ID where identification may be partially based onidentification of originating CPE 106.

In embodiments, membership information associated with a unique memberlogin such as hobbies, interests, gender, age, “Favorites”, “wish list”,and the like, may be used to facilitate personalization of T-Commercechannel 114 experiences such as personalized brand tiles displayed onthe landing page, personalized display of sales, trending, brandpromotion banners, and the like on other pages visited by the user 102.In embodiments, the member login may be shared with and used by theplurality of brand channels 116 for personalization of brand channels116, and the like. A brand specific recommendation engine may be used tofacilitate the personalization.

In another example, the user may already be a member of a selected brandchannel 116. In embodiments, the system may have a mapping betweenT-Commerce channel membership login and membership information for aparticular brand channel 116, and the like. If so, the user may seamlesslog on to the brand channel 116 site using a Single-Sign-On (SSO)mechanism using one or more of a federated authentication process, adelegated authentication process, and the like.

In embodiments, the system may utilize a payment facility 130 associatedwith a brand channel 116. In embodiments, the user interface of thebrand payment gateway 704 may be rendered by the embedded (micro)browser 302 on the CPE 106 and not by the remote browser 112 on thedelivery platform 110. The embedded browser 302 may use encryptedtunneling such as HTTP/S and the like to communicate payment informationsuch as credit card number, name, billing/shipping address, and the liketo a payment facility 130. In this embodiment, the remote browser 112and delivery platform 110 do not see the user's 102 credit card numberand thus, do not have to be PCI compliant in this embodiment.

In embodiments, a payment application on the user's 102 mobile computingdevice 1104, described later herein in detail, may collect paymentinformation such as credit card number and the like from the user 102.In embodiments, the payment application on the user's mobile computingdevice 1104 may be linked with the user's member login on the T-Commercechannel 114. This payment application may connect with a payment serviceused by the T-Commerce channel 114. The mobile computing device 1104 mayor may not be linked with the CPE 106. In embodiments, if the user's 102mobile computing device 1104 is linked with the CPE 106, a user 102logging into the T-Commerce channel 114 from the CPE 106 with theirmember login may cause the payment application on the mobile computingdevice 1104 to be launched (if not already) and opened. When the paymentapplication is launched it may register a callback over the Internetwith the payment service used by the T-Commerce channel 114. When a user102 on the T-Commerce channel 114 goes to check-out, the T-Commercechannel 114 may communicate with its associated payment service whichwill call back the payment application on the user's 102 mobilecomputing device 1104 at the previously registered call-back. Uponcall-back, the payment application will pop to the front on the mobilecomputing device 1104 where the user 102 may enter payment informationsuch as credit card number, and the like. The payment application on theuser's 102 mobile computing device 1104 may then communicate the paymentinformation to the payment service used by the T-Commerce channel 114.The payment service may then communicate the payment information to thebrand channel's 116 payment facility 130.

In embodiments, the user 102 may be presented with one of a plurality ofgraphics representing matrices of numbers. The user 102 may click onnumbers in the graphic to enter payment information such as credit cardnumber, and the like. The geometry of the user's 102 clicks is capturedand shared with the payment service used by the T-Commerce channel 114.In embodiments, the payment service may have access to the plurality ofgraphics representing matrices of numbers and may use the shared clickgeometry in combination with the graphics to decode the paymentinformation from the shared click geometry.

In an illustrative and non-limiting example, a user 102 may havepreviously established a unique user identifier on CPE Client 108. Theuser 102 may go to the T-Commerce channel 114 without logging in. Onceat the T-Commerce channel 114, the user 102 may select one of aplurality of brand channel 116 tiles or options, and select “Add toFavorites” from a plurality of options associated with the brand channel116 tile. Upon this action, a link to the selected brand channel 116 maybe added to the “Favorites” section of the navigator bar. Use of thislink will allow the user to navigate directly to a shopping page forthat brand channel 116. When a user 102 is on the shopping page for abrand channel 116 the user 102 may select a particular product andselect “Add to Wish list” from a plurality of options associated withthe selection for that product. The product is then added to a “wishlist” associated with the unique user ID. The user 102 may easily findand purchase items on their wish list in the future. The user 102 mayalso choose to add one or more products from a plurality of brandchannels 116 to a global cart 702. The user 102 may select items for aparticular brand channel 116 in the global cart and click “Checkout.” Inembodiments, if the user 102 has not created a member login, the user isgiven an option to provide detailed membership information includingpayment information. If the user 102 does have a member login, the user102 is provided with the opportunity to enter their identifyinginformation such as member login, password, and the like. Uponauthentication, an existing user 102 may be presented with theircurrently stored payment information, if any, and given the option tooverride existing payment information.

In another illustrative and non-limiting example, the user 102 may add aproduct to a brand cart 706. The T-Commerce channel's 114 global cart702 is created and updated accordingly. The user 102 may decide tocheckout for a particular brand within the global cart 702. The user 102may be presented with a notice indicating that they are to betransferred to another secure website to process the online payment. Thenotice may also comprise a link to a brand payment gateway 704. The CPEclient 108 may pass control to the embedded (micro) browser 302 togetherwith information such as brand cart 706, member login, authorizationcode and the like. The embedded (micro) browser 302 launches the brandpayment gateway 704 pre-populated with user 102 information such asbilling/shipping address and the like and transaction information suchas brand cart 706 ID, authorization code, and the like. The user 102 maythen enter their payment information such as credit card number, debitcard number, gift card number and the like into the brand paymentgateway 704. Upon successful payment through the brand channel 116payment facility 130 the brand channel 116 is notified and the brandcart 706 is updated using the passed brand cart 706 ID. The brandchannel 116 notifies the T-Commerce channel 114 that then updates theglobal cart 702. Control is then redirected back to the embedded (micro)browser 302 which displays a message regarding successful payment,switches control back to the remote browser 112 displaying theT-Commerce channel 114 application.

In embodiments, each user 102, as identified by their member login, maybe required to define payment information such as billing/shippingaddress, credit card number, and the like, prior to performing a “CheckOut” operation within the T-Commerce channel 114. However, the user 102may not be required to have a member login prior to being asked todefine the payment information above.

Remote Devices

In embodiments, user 102 interactions and inputs with the CPE 106, CPEClient 108, DP remote browser 112, the T-Commerce channel 114, brandchannels 116, and the like, may be facilitated through system supportfor a plurality of remote devices, such as a remote control 104 (e.g., apointing-capable remote control, which may be enabled through inertialsensors, a joystick, microphone, camera, and the like); a keyboard; asmart phone, smart tablet, or laptop computer (also referred to hereinas a ‘second computing device’); and the like, as well as through agesture recognition facility provided by the T-commerce system andenabled through a camera viewing the user environment, such asintegrated on the CPE, integrated with the remote control device,mounted separately from and interfaced with the CPE, and the like. Inembodiments, the user 102 may have the ability to use the touch screenon a remote device 104 to control the cursor on a CPE 106, CPE Client108, remote browser 112, and the like. In embodiments, remote controls104 may connect to the CPE 106 using such means and protocols as WiFi,UDAP, IR, and the like. In embodiments, remote controls 104 may connectwith the T-Commerce channel 114 through WiFi, cellular and the like. Inembodiments, the user may make navigation indications, selectionindications, modify their profiles, checkout with a purchase, and thelike, using any of these input facilities, including utilizing thepoint-and-click actions of a remote control device, voice recognitioninputs to one of the remote devices, gesture control inputs to one ofthe remote devices, direct inputs to a second computing device, and thelike. For example, a user may be navigating through brand channels andfilling their ‘shopping bag’, and when ready to check out, may choose todo so utilizing an interface to the T-commerce system through a tablet,such as utilizing the user and payment information previously stored ina user profile (e.g., a user's ‘wallet’) associated with the T-commercesystem.

In embodiments, the T-Commerce system may be enabled with various usercommunication capabilities. Such user communication capabilities mayinclude one or more of the following: (1) direct controls, such asbuttons, knobs, switches, and the like, which may be located on a CPE,on attached devices, on networked devices, and the like; (2) remotecontrols, such as handheld remote controls, wireless keyboards, pointingdevices, and the like; (3) mobile devices, such as mobile phones, tabletcomputers, handheld music and video players, and the like; (4) wearablecomputers, such as eyeglass computers (e.g. Google Glass), smart watches(e.g. Samsung Galaxy Gear watch), and the like; (5) implantablecomputers; (6) human interfaces, such as user motions (e.g. gestures,nodding, shaking one's head, blinking, etc.), voice commands, and thelike; and (7) other interfaces that communicate by means of light,sound, touch, electromagnetic fields, and the like. In theseembodiments, CPEs may be equipped with sensors or may be networked orotherwise in communication with devices that are equipped with sensorsto detect various forms of user communication. A CPE may be equippedwith or be networked with or otherwise have access to one or morecameras that may detect and capture user motions and gestures, and maybe equipped with or be networked with or otherwise have access tosoftware that is enabled to interpret such motions. Similarly, a CPE maybe equipped with or be networked with or otherwise have access to amicrophone through which a user may input oral commands and may alsohave access to software that may interpret such oral commands. A CPE maybe equipped with other sensors, as well, possibly including infra-redsensors, which may detect the number of people viewing the CPE, motiondetectors, and the like. In an example of these embodiments, a user whois watching television may issue an oral instruction to the CPE for itto display a brand channel. The user may then use oral commands tonavigate around the brand channel, to make purchases, to edit favorites,to use viewing features (e.g. picture-in-picture, program recording,slow motion playback, etc.), to change settings, and the like. Inresponse to user commands, the CPE may respond by displaying screenprompts, with audio, possibly including conversational responses (e.g.“Are you ready to place the order?”), and with other methods offeedback. Such feedback methods may be subject to user control throughpreference settings. In another example of these embodiments, a user maymake a gesture, such as a swiping gesture with a hand to change achannel, may point with a finger to select a button on a screen, may aska question about an item on the screen (e.g. “Is that available in size10 in green?”), and the like, where the T-commerce system interprets theuser's gestures through a gesture recognition facility. Such means ofuser input and CPE feedback may be combined, such that a user may pointwith a finger at an item on the screen and ask a question about thatitem and the CPE may respond by answering the question using audiblewords, words displayed on a screen, or both. Alternatively, the CPE mayrespond using other communication methods, possibly including sending amessage to a mobile device (e.g. an email with a price sheet attached, atext message, a picture, a video file, an audio file, etc.), bydisplaying lights, by making sounds, and the like. In embodiments, auser may control a CPE through conversation with an animated figure thatmay be a digital representation of a person, an animal, a cartooncharacter, or the like. Such an animated figure may appears in a boxthat is displayed on a screen. Interactions with such an animated figuremay emulate conversations between people. For example, a user mayinstruct the animated figure, “Show me Nike products” and the animatedfigure may respond, “Would you like to go to the Nike home page or tothe running shoe page?” Software required for voice recognition,software recognition, speech synthesis, and the like may run on the CPEor elsewhere, possibly on a server, set-top-box, other connected device,other remote device, or the like. User interfaces that are available forthe T-Commerce system may also be enabled to control other CPEfunctions, such as changing channels, recording programs,picture-in-picture controls, and the like.

Referring to FIG. 8, a top-level embodiment block diagram 800 ispresented illustrating the functionality of a T-Commerce mobileapplication functionality running on a mobile computing device 1104 andthe interactions of the application with the CPE 106. Mobile applicationfunctionality may comprise launching 802, detecting and pairing 804,main page 806, mini home 810, remote control 808 for the CPE 106, andthe like. In embodiments, the user 102 may be able to use the touchscreen of a mobile computing device 1104 to control the cursor andgenerate click actions when using the mobile computing device 1104 as aremote control 808 for the CPE 106. Mini home may further comprisefeatures such as account login 812, preference checking 814, brand list816, brand pages/product lists 818, and the like.

In embodiments, a mobile computing device may go through an initialsequence comprising: launching 802 a T-Commerce mobile application on aCPE 106; detecting and pairing 804 the mobile computing device with adetectable CPE 106; displaying a main page 806 on the mobile computingdevice; and the like. The main page 806 may comprise an option to launcha mini home 810 which may facilitate access to a plurality of optionsfor the T-Commerce channel 114 such as account login 812, preferencechecking 814, brand list 816 of brands available through the T-Commercechannel 114, brand pages/product lists 818 for a plurality of brandchannels 116, and the like.

Referring to FIG. 9, a top-level embodiment block diagram 900 ispresented illustrating some of the features available from mini home 810such as a service list 902 of options, T-Commerce page 912, brand list924, brand pages 932, product SKUs 934, information box of T-Commerceservices 914, and the like. The service list 902 may comprise options,icons or the like facilitating access to features such as T-Commerce904, premium content 906, 3D-content 908, and the like. In embodiments,the T-Commerce page 912 may facilitate access to a brand list 924, aninformation box of T-Commerce services 914, and the like. Theinformation box for T-Commerce services 914 may comprise “favorites”916, “wish list” 918, message box 920, T-Commerce box 922, and the like.

In embodiments, a user 102 in mini home 810 on a mobile computing device1104 may select the T-Commerce 904 option from a service list 902. Inembodiments, once the user 102 has selected the T-Commerce 904 option,the user 102 may be given an opportunity to log-in 910 to the T-Commercechannel 110 or proceed directly to the T-Commerce page 912. Once on theT-Commerce page 912, the user 102 may view a brand list 924. The brandlist 924 may facilitate browsing of brands by displaying a plurality ofbrand indicators such as images, icons, text, and the likerepresentative of supported brands 926 928 930. In embodiments,selection of one of the plurality of brand indicators may result in thedisplay of the associated brand page 932. The brand page 932 may displayinformation about a plurality of products 936 938 940 such as images,videos, text, and the like. In embodiments, once on the T-Commerce page912, the user 102 may access one of a plurality of services shown in theinfo box T-Commerce Service 914 such as: reviewing a user's 102favorites 916; checking a user's 102 message box 920 which may comprisepromotions, shared items from other T-Commerce channel users 102, andthe like; review of the user's 102 “wish list” 918; a T-Commerce Boxwhich may comprise miscellaneous status information from the T-Commercechannel 114 such delivery status of purchases, receipts, coupons, andthe like; and the like.

Referring to FIG. 10, a top-level embodiment block diagram 1000 ispresented illustrating a CPE 106 environment and the plurality ofdevices and systems with which the CPE 106 may interact such as remotedevices 104, a plurality of computing devices 1002, a plurality ofmobile computing devices 1104, a plurality of content servers 1012 1014,and the like.

In embodiments, a user may interact with the CPE 106 using a pluralityof devices such as remote devices 104, computing devices 1002 such asdesktops, laptops, and the like, mobile computing devices 1104 such assmart phones, smart tablets, and the like. In embodiments, a mobilecomputing device 1104C paired to a CPE 106 may launch the CPEclient/auto login 1018. In embodiments, if the user 102 of the mobilecomputing device 1104C has logged into the T-Commerce channel 114, theiridentification information is passed to the CPE 106 together withcommands to launch the CPE Client 108 and log-in to the T-Commercechannel 114 using the passed identification information. In embodiments,a mobile computing device 1104B may be used for keyboard texting, aswell as sharing product and brand content with social media 1008 such asFacebook, Twitter, and the like. In embodiments, direct sharing ofcontent between individuals may be facilitated between computing devices1002, mobile computing devices 1104 and the like, where direct sharingoptions may comprise: direct device to device sharing, such as shownbetween computers 1002A and 1002B by such means such as email, IM, andthe like; sharing facilitated by the CPE 106 or T-Commerce channel 114messages; and the like. In embodiments, a computing device 1002B maysupport the output of content from the T-Commerce system to a printingdevice 1004. In embodiments, an “add additional screen” 1010 command maybe sent to a mobile computing device 1104A linked to a CPE 106. Thescreen on the mobile computing device 1104 may act as a second screen tofacilitate interactions between the CPE Client 106 and the T-Commercesystem or as a primary interface to the T-Commerce system when the CPE106 may be running an alternate application. The T-commerce system mayshare information and content from a plurality of servers such asproduct information servers 1014, media content servers 1012, and thelike.

In embodiments, a plurality of mobile computing devices 1104 may supportthe CPE client 108 by facilitating effective interactions with theT-Commerce channel 114, the brand channels 116, the CPE 106, and thelike. The mobile computing devices 1104 may facilitate users' 102on-the-go experience of a T-Commerce channel 114 and may enhance users'102 convenience by leveraging, if available, the mobile computingdevice's 1104 smart features such as short-cut app launch, pointercapabilities, SNS, printing, share over email, and the like. Thefeatures of the mobile computing device 1104 may be grouped into sets offeatures supporting activities such as interacting with CPE 106,interacting with the T-Commerce channel 114 on-the-go, and the like.

In an illustrative and non-limiting example, the user 102 may havelogged into the T-Commerce channel 114 when visiting the T-Commerce page912 using their mobile computing device 1104. The user 102 may selectamong options such as configuration, settings, preferences, and the liketo personalize their experience. The user 102 may be shown a pluralityof options such as selecting a printer from a list of available printerson their local network, identifying their preferences for the kinds ofproducts for which they receive promotions, the types of promotions theyare interested in receiving, and the like. In embodiments, the systemmay have an option to send content such as delivery status, receipts,product images, product names, coupons and the like to a printing device1004.

In embodiments, portions of the T-Commerce system such as the T-Commercepage 912, T-Commerce channel applications 107, brand channelapplications 108, and the like, may provide a plurality of methods toshare metadata, media content, URLs, and the like, with social media1008 such as Facebook, Twitter, and the like. Sharing with social media1008 may be accomplished using a plurality of devices such as acomputing device 1002C, a mobile computing device 1104, and the like. Inembodiments, a user 102 accessing the T-Commerce channel 114 using a CPE106 may be able to share or send product information such as metadata,media content, and the like, to others. Product information may be sentby mobile computing devices 1104 using email, IM, MMS, and the like.

In embodiments, the system may send information related to brand contentto a mobile computing device 1104 paired to a CPE 106, such that theuser 102 may access the T-Commerce channel 114 while utilizing the CPE106 for applications other than the CPE client 108. In an illustrativeand non-limiting example, the user 102 may “add additional screen” 1010under a variety of circumstances such as: when in the CPE Client andaccessing the T-Commerce system; when switching between applications onthe CPE 106; when in an alternate application on the CPE 106 andprompted by the CPE client 108 running in the background; and the like.

Referring to FIG. 11, a top-level block diagram 1100 is presentedillustrating the flow of information between a mobile computing device1104 and components of the T-Commerce system such as brand servers 1114,channel applications 1106, T-Commerce channel applications 1107, brandchannel applications 1108, cache servers 1110, mobile asset repositories1112, and the like. In a non-limiting example, a user 102 on a mobilecomputing device 1104 taps ‘Brand 1’ 1116 followed by user taps ‘Product1’ 1118. This may initiate a chain of interactions resulting in displaydetail of ‘Product 1’ 1114 being shown on the screen of the mobilecomputing device 1104.

In embodiments, there may be a cache server 1110 that provides mediacontent for channel applications 1106 which may be displayed on a CPE106. There may be a mobile asset repository 1112 which may providecontent from the cache server 1110 trans-coded for mobile computingdevices 1104. The mobile asset repository 1112 may synchronize itscontent with the cache server 1110 and maintain synchronization using aform of version control or the like. In embodiments, the mobile assetrepository 1112 may be included within the cache server 1110. The brandservers 1102 may provide content to the cache server 1110 and mangeprovided content through such actions as add, delete, update, and thelike. In embodiments, the mobile asset repository 1112 may updateproduct information and pages on a mobile computing device 1104 as pageversions are updated.

Referring to FIG. 12, a top-level block diagram 1200 is presentedillustrating interactions between a mobile computing device 1104, a CPE106 and CPE client 108 and the flow of data between the CPE client 108,the remote browser 112, channel applications 1106 such as brand channelapplications 1108 and T-Commerce channel application 1107, cache server1110 and a mobile asset repository 1112.

In an illustrative and non-limiting example, a user 102 may select aproduct, user taps ‘Product 1’ 1204, while on a mobile computing device1104. The mobile computing device 1104 may “launch CPE client with‘Product 1’ ID” 1208 which launches the CPE Client 108, if not alreadyrunning on the CPE 106, and causes a request for ‘Product 1’ informationto be sent to the remote browser 112. The remote browser 112 mayretrieve the ‘Product 1’ information from the appropriate channelapplication 1106 and the Cache Server 1110. The remote browser 112 maythen stream the associated content back to the CPE client 108 on the CPE106.

Referring to FIG. 13, a top-level block diagram 1300 is presentedillustrating the use of a mobile computing device's 1104 keyboard 1302in support of channel applications 1106 running on a remote browser 112and being displayed by a CPE client 108 on a CPE device 106.

In embodiments, the remote browser 112 may receive user-initiated eventssuch as cursor movements, clicks, and the like, from the CPE client 108.The remote browser 112 may send these inputs to one or more of aplurality of channel applications 1106, such as the T-Commerce channelapplication 1107, brand channel applications 1108, and the like.JavaScript or other computer program on a channel application 1106interprets user 102 input and generates needed feedback based on theresponse from the channel application 1106. In this way a user 102 maybe able to initiate an event within one of the plurality of channelapplications 1106 such that keyboard input may be desired. Uponidentification of the need for keyboard input, JavaScript or othercomputer code running on the channel application 1106 may send a commandthrough the remote browser 112 and the CPE client 108 to a paired mobilecomputing device 1104 to open a keyboard 1302 or phone book. Inembodiments, the mobile computing device 1104 may display its keyboard1302, regardless of the status of the mobile screen and functions. Theuser 102 may enter the text on the keyboard 1302 of the mobile computingdevice 1104 and click enter or done. The mobile computing device maythen send this information to the paired CPE device 106 and CPE client108 which may transmit the data to the remote browser 112 which: rendersthe text in the appropriate place on the screen; sends the entered textto one or more channel applications 1106; sends an updated screen imageto the CPE Client 108; and the like.

Referring to FIG. 14, a top-level block diagram 1400 is presentedillustrating the flow of data and content between brand servers 1102,channel applications 1106, the cache server 1110, the mobile assetrepository 1112, and a mobile computing device 1104.

In embodiment, the brand servers 1102 may assign identificationinformation, such as IDs, URLs, and the like to content such as images,text, video, and the like. This identification information, referred tohereafter as a reference, may be used for identifying the content in thefuture. The brand servers 1102 may send references to brand and productcontent 1402 to a plurality of channel applications 1106. The brandservers 1102 may “transfer references and associated content data to thecache server” 1404. The cache server 1110 may store such content for aplurality of channel applications 1106. In embodiments, when a channelapplication 1106 page is displayed on a CPE 106, the channel application1106 retrieves brand and product data by reference from the cache server1110. If a channel application 1106 is being displayed on a mobilecomputing device 1104, the request for referenced content may be sent tothe mobile asset repository 1112.

In embodiments, the mobile computing devices 1104 may delay displayingimages and providing video clips until the user 102 clicks to displaythe image, play the video, and the like. In embodiments, the contentused by channel applications 1106 shown on a CPE 106 may or may not beusable in the same format for display on mobile computing devices 1104.Transcoding of original images and video for use on mobile computingdevices 1104 may be required. In embodiments, a mobile asset repository1112 may manage the version of the content transcoded for mobile displayand provide said content to the mobile computing devices 1104. Inembodiments, the mobile asset repository 1112 may fetch content from thecache server 1110 and transcode the content for N-screen. Inembodiments, the N-screen content may be supplied by the brand server1102 directly to the cache server 1110, from which it may be fetched bythe mobile asset repository 1112. The mobile asset repository 1112 mayuse a version number to manage synchronization with the cache server1110 resulting from version changes by the brand servers 1102.

In an illustrative and non-limiting example, the mobile asset repository1112 checks the cache server 1110 for a change in version number. If adifference in the version number is detected between the cache server1110 and the mobile asset repository 1112, the mobile asset repository1112 synchronizes the changed content data with that in the cache server1110. The content in the cache server 1110 may or may not be transcoded.If the content in the cache server 1110 is not transcoded the mobileasset repository 1112 may transcode the content into a mobile contentformat and fetch the URL of pages associated with each piece of content.The mobile asset repository 1112 may then update the mobile versionnumber. When a mobile computing device 1104 initiates the display ofcertain content and information, a request may be sent to the mobileasset repository 1112. In embodiments, the mobile asset repository 1112may direct the mobile computing device 1104 to cache server 1110 for thecontent. In embodiments, the mobile asset repository 1112 may send thecontent and data to the mobile computing device 1104 directly from thememory of the mobile asset repository 1112. The provided content may beaccompanied by a token to facilitate actions such as tracking views,validating a user's visit, recording details of a visit occurrence forlater analysis, facilitating sharing, facilitating advertising, and thelike.

Referring to FIG. 15, a top-level block diagram 1500 is presentedillustrating the flow of data between a mobile computing device 1104 andcomponents of the T-Commerce system such as brand servers 1102, mobileasset repository 1112, cache server 1110, channel applications 1106,remote browser 112, and the like.

Referring to FIG. 16, a top-level embodiment block diagram 1600 ispresented illustrating T-Commerce mobile application functionality andits interaction with the CPE 106. Mobile application functionality maycomprise launching 802, detecting and pairing 804, main page 806, minihome 810 and remote control 808. Mini home may further comprise featuressuch as account login 812, preference-checking 814, brand list 816,brand pages/product lists 818, and the like. CPE 106 functionality maycomprise providing a password on the screen for pairing 1604, launchingthe T-Commerce channel 110 on the screen 1606, and the like.

In embodiments, a mobile computing device 1104 may go through an initialsequence comprising launching 802 a T-Commerce mobile application,detecting and pairing 804 the mobile computing device with a detectableCPE 106. In embodiments, as part of the pairing process the CPE 106 maydisplay a password on the screen 1604 which may be entered into themobile computing device 1104. In embodiments, the mobile computingdevice may display a main page 806 having an option to open a mini home810. The mini home 810 may facilitate access to a plurality of optionsfor the T-Commerce channel 114 such as account login 812, preferencechecking 814, brand list 816 of brands available through the T-Commercechannel 114, brand pages/product lists 818 for a plurality of brandchannels 116, and the like.

In embodiments, the mobile computing device 1104 may act as a remotecontrol 808 for the CPE 106. In embodiments, the remote control 808functionality may be an option selected from the main page 806. Inembodiments, the user 102 may launch a plurality of applications on theCPE 106 such as the CPE client 108, local CPE 106 applications, channelapplications 1106 such as the T-Commerce application 1107, brand channelapplications 1108, and the and the like, directly using the mobilecomputing device 1104 as a remote control 808. In embodiments, an actionon the T-Commerce channel 110 on the mobile computing device 1104 mayresult in the launching of the T-Commerce channel on the CPE 1606. Ifthe mobile computing device 1104 launches the T-Commerce channel on theCPE 106 it may also act as a remote control 808. Both mini home 808 andremote control 808 may have the option of launching 1606 the T-Commercechannel 114 on CPE 106.

Referring to FIG. 17, a top-level embodiment block diagram 1700 ispresented illustrating a flow of options on the mobile computing devicesuch as mini home 810, T-Commerce channel 114, other tabs 1706,T-Commerce tabs 1702, remote control functionality 808, and the like.The illustration 1700 also shows the corresponding state on the CPE, inthis illustration a TV, such as T-Commerce channel on TV 1704, shop onTV 1708, and the like.

In embodiments, selection of the option to launch the T-Commerce channelon the CPE 106 may result in the launch of the CPE client 108 anddisplay of the T-Commerce channel on the CPE 1704. Selection of theT-Commerce channel 810 from a plurality of other tabs 1706 may result inthe display of the T-Commerce page 912 on which may display a pluralityof T-Commerce tabs 1702. Selection of a brand may result in a shop on TV1708 page being displayed on the CPE 106. The remote controlfunctionality 808 on the mobile computing device 1104 may facilitateinteraction with the “shop on TV” 1708 page displayed on the CPE 106.

In an illustrative and non-limiting example, a user 102 may open aT-Commerce mobile application. Following launch 802, the mobileapplication may progress to detecting and pairing 804. The mobilecomputing device 1104 may detect nearby devices such as CPEs 106,printing devices 1004, and the like. If an unknown CPE 106 is detectedan attempt may be made to pair or link with the CPE 106. A dialog boxmay open on the mobile computing device 1104 and on the CPE 106 where apassword 1604 may be displayed. The user 102 may enter the passworddisplayed on the CPE 106 into the dialog box displayed on the mobilecomputing device 1104 to pair the mobile computing device 1104 and theCPE 106. After detecting and pairing 806 the T-Commerce mobileapplication may display the main page 808. The main page may have aplurality of options such as mini home 810, remote control 808, and thelike.

Referring to FIG. 18, a top-level embodiment block diagram 1800 ispresented illustrating a flow of interactions between a user 102, a CPEclient 108, a remote browser 112, channel applications 1106, a pluralityof possible keyboards such as a browser keyboard 1806, a TV-clientkeyboard 1808, a mobile keyboard 1820, and the like. Interactions mayinclude: user action 1824; detect edit 1804; request keyboard 1822; CPEKeyboard Request 1824; mobile keyboard request 1830; provide text 1828;and the like. These interactions may occur over wireless, cellular orother means using public or private protocols such as WiFi, UDAP, andthe like.

In embodiments, the T-Commerce channel 114, brand channels 116, and aplurality of channel applications 1106 may be accessed by a remotebrowser 112 and the corresponding audio/visual content streamed to a CPEclient 108 and displayed on a CPE 106. The CPE client 108 may send auser action 1824 such as cursor movements and click events to the remotebrowser 112 which may send that input to one or more of a plurality ofchannel applications 1106. JavaScript or another computer program on achannel application 1106 may interpret the user action 1824. In this waya user 102 may be able to initiate an event within one of the pluralityof channel applications 1106 that may be detected by the JavaScript.

In an illustrative and non-limiting example, the JavaScript mayinterpret the user action 1824 and detect edit 1804. As a result of thedetect edit 1804 event, the JavaScript or other computer program maysend a request keyboard 1808 event back to the remote browser 112. Inembodiments, the remote browser 112 may display a browser keyboard 1806with which the user 102 may interact. The remote browser may thenprovide text 1828 to the channel application 1106. In embodiments, theremote browser 112 may send a CPE keyboard request 1824 to the CPEclient 108. In embodiments, the CPE client 108 may display a CPE clientkeyboard 1808 with which the user 102 may interact. The CPE client 108may then provide text 1828 to the remote browser 112 who may thenprovide text 1828 to the channel application 1106. In embodiments, theCPE client 108 may send a mobile keyboard request 1830 to a mobilecomputing device 1104. The mobile computing device 1104 may display akeyboard 1820 with which the user 102 may interact. The mobile computingdevice 1104 may then provide text 1828 to the CPE client 108 which mayprovide text 1828 to the remote browser 1828 who may then provide text1828 to a channel application 1106.

In an illustrative and non-limiting example, the user 102 may launch aCPE client 108 and connect to channel applications 1106 such as theT-Commerce application 1107, brand channel applications 1108, and thelike, directly from the mobile computing device 1104. When the user 102enters the mobile application on the mobile computing device 1104 andselects to connect to the T-Commerce channel 114, the user 102 may beshown a login page 910 and provided with the opportunity to enter theiridentifying information such as member login, password, and the like,related to user's 102 membership on the T-Commerce channel 114. The user102 may have an option to save member login information and allow themobile application on the mobile computing device to reuse the saveddata. This may enhance user 102 convenience and ease of repeated logins.If the user 102 has logged onto the T-Commerce channel 114 and then usesthe mobile computing device 1104 to launch the CPE client 108, that CPEclient 108 may auto log-in to the T-Commerce channel 114 using the samemembership information used to log-in to the T-Commerce channel 110 onmobile computing device 1104. If the user 102 has not logged onto theT-Commerce channel 114 prior to launching the CPE client 108, the user102 may not be auto logged onto the T-Commerce channel 114. In thisinstance, the user 102 may asked to provide identifying information suchas member login, password, and the like, related to user's 102membership on the T-Commerce channel 114 prior to completing a purchasethrough the CPE 106.

In embodiments, the user 102 may be asked to log-in when they click theT-Commerce icon 904 within the mini home 810 on a mobile computingdevice 1104. The user 102 may choose to not login. If the user 102chooses to not log-in they may have limited access to the functions andinformation on the T-commerce mobile application. The user 102 may beable to launch the CPE Client 108 without having logged onto theT-Commerce channel 114 on the mobile computing device 1104. If the user102 who has not logged in, attempts to access information which isassociated with a member login, the user 102 may asked to login.

In embodiments, the user 102 may be asked to login when they click theT-Commerce icon 904 within the mini home 810 on a mobile computingdevice 1104. If the user 102 does login to the T-Commerce channel 114and then launches the CPE Client 108 from the mobile computing device1104, the CPE client 108 may be automatically logged onto the T-Commercechannel 114. The CPE client 108 log-in status may be saved and the user102 may remain logged onto the T-Commerce channel 114 through the CPEclient 108 even if the user 102 leaves the T-Commerce page 912 or closesthe T-Commerce mobile application.

In embodiments, the user 102 may navigate to the T-Commerce channel 114and brand channels 116 using the mobile application on the mobilecomputing device 1104 without interacting with the CPE 106. Using themobile application, the user 102 may have access to a plurality offunctionality on the T-Commerce channel 114 and brand channels 116 suchas: viewing the user's 102 “wish list”; viewing global cart 702 andbrand carts 706; checking delivery status; viewing a brand list 924 andbrand pages 932; viewing product SKUs 924; receiving shared data;searching brands and SKUs; and the like.

In an illustrative and non-limiting example, the user 102 taps ‘Brand 1’1116 on their mobile computing device 1104. The mobile asset repository1112 updates lists of products and images for versions of brand pagesthat have changed. The user 102 taps ‘Product 1’ 1118 resulting inmobile content and data being sent from the mobile asset repository 1112to the mobile computing device 1104 displaying detail of ‘Product 1’1114. The user 102 may select ‘Product 1’ 1118 for addition to theuser's 102 “wish list”, thus changing personal information associatedwith the user's 102 member login, in this case the contents of theuser's 102 “wish list.” This change to the personal informationassociated with the user's 102 member login may be shared with thecomponents of the T-Commerce system such as the T-Commerce data servicedatabase 2012, brand server 1102, channel applications 1106 such as theT-Commerce channel application 1107, brand channel applications 1108,and the like, the cache server 1110, the mobile asset repository 1112,and the like.

In embodiments, there may be a remote devices server which may track aplurality of user 102 data such as the user's 102 on-the-move activity,response to share/promotional messages, preference for product and adtypes, click-time variation, demographics, and the like. The remotedevices server may track information related to the operation of mobilecomputing devices 1104 such as mobile content ID of displayed image orcontent, attributes related to displayed image or content such asclassification of displayed content such as favorite, wish list, cart,and the like, image format, image size and the like. The remote devicesservice may track information related to the operation of the mobilecomputing device 1104 such as the URL of banner content, URL of targetpage, event log such as event type, click on what content for whatactions, navigation route, time log, and the like. The remote devicesserver may track information to be used by the analytics system such asproduct information regarding the advertising content such as categoryand information about the CPE 106 such as MAC address, zip code,demographics associated with the unique user identification, and thelike. In embodiments, when a user 102 views a brand page 932 on theirmobile computing device 1104 the visit may be counted and a scenario ofthe user's 102 visit to a brand channel 116 accompanied by a token andsaved to the remote devices server where it may be used to track brandexposures, click-through, and the like.

In embodiments, the T-Commerce page 912 may provide a list of brandshops which users' 102 may click to enter brand pages 932. The list ofbrand shops may be updated when a business entity or the like associatedwith the T-Commerce channel 114 makes changes in business partners andtheir associated brands. The list may be updated when the mobileapplication on the mobile computing device 1104 detects an update whenaccessing the brand list 924 from within the T-Commerce Page 912

In embodiments, a user's 102 interactions and selections with theT-Commerce channel 114, brand channels 116, and the like while on themobile computing device 1104 may be updated in a plurality of locationssuch as the T-Commerce server, cache server 1110, brand servers 1102,channel applications 1106, and the like. These updates may facilitateconsistency of experience for the user between the CPE 106 and mobilecomputing devices 1104. The updates may facilitate the appearance ofevents that occurred on the mobile computing device 1104 appearing whenthe user 102 visits the T-Commerce channel 114, brand channels 116, andthe like using the CPE 106 device.

In embodiments, a user 102 may be able to personalize their experiencewith the T-Commerce channel 114, brand channels 116, and the like. Inembodiments, a user 102 may set preferences about the product categoriesand brands about which they wish to see information, the types ofinformation they receive such as advertisements, new product launches,and the like. In embodiments, the user 102 may set system configurationdetails for a printing device 1004, additional computing devices 1002,and the like.

In an illustrative and non-limiting example, the user 102 may click onthe T-Commerce icon 904 in the mini home 810. As the mobile applicationbegins to display the T-Commerce page 912 it may access content from themobile asset repository 1112 or the cache server 1110. When the mobileapplication accesses the content it may check the version number to seewhether or not the content has changed. If the version has changed, themobile application may retrieve the updated content while a progressicon may be displayed on the layout of each piece of content beingupdated. If there is no change in the version or the updates havecompleted, the mobile application may show the content on the screen ofthe mobile computing device 1104. When the user 102 selects or clicks ona brand, the display of the mobile computing device 1104 may updated toshow the basic layout of a brand page 932 which may be provided by thebrand, be a generic layout, and the like. When updating the display, themobile application checks the version number of the brand page 932relative to that in the cache server 1110 or mobile asset repository1112 to see of the brand page 932 has been updated. If the version haschanged, the mobile application may retrieve the new content with aprogress icon displaying on the layout of each piece of content beingupdated. If there is not a version change or if the updates havecompleted, the mobile application may display the brand page 932 on thescreen of the mobile computing device 1104. When the user 102 touches orclicks on one of the images representing product, promotional content,and the like, the mobile application may alter the display of the mobilecomputing device 1104 to show more product content and metadata relatingto the selected image. Again, the mobile asset repository 1112 may checkto verify the version of the content which may be streaming video,documents, images with hyperlinks to other sites, and the like. If theuser 102 selects a hyperlink to go to a linked site, the T-Commercechannel 114 may receive credit, payment, or the like from the brandbased on the agreement between the T-Commerce channel 114 and thebrands.

In an illustrative and non-limiting example, the user 102 may be viewinga brand page 932 on their mobile computing device 1104. The user 102 maymark one or more products as “favorites”, “wish list”, and the like, forlater review. The user 102 may turn on a CPE 106 device with access tothe T-Commerce channel 114. The user may view the T-Commerce channel 114on the CPE 106 device and may see that those lists updated on the mobilecomputing device 1104 such as “favorites”, “wish list”, and the like,may be marked as having been updated on the CPE 106 view of theT-Commerce channel 114. The user 102 may enter “favorites”, “wish list”,and the like, from the CPE 106 device and find that those productsidentified on the mobile computing device 1104 are present.

In an illustrative and non-limiting example, the user 102 may open apage of information on the mobile computing device 1104. At the end ofthe page there may be a selectable option to allow the user 102 toreview that page of information on a CPE 106 device. If the user 102selects the option to visit that page on a CPE 106 device, the CPEclient 108 may be launched and the page that user 102 indicated accessedusing the DP remote browser 112. If the user 102 is already accessingthe T-Commerce channel 114 on a CPE 106 device when they select theoption to visit a page on their mobile computing device 1104, the targetpage selected may replace the page currently being displayed by the CPEclient 108. Thus, in this instance, the use of the mobile computingdevice 1104 may be used as a shortcut to directly jump to the page theuser 102 wishes to display on the CPE 106 device.

In an illustrative and non-limiting example, the user 102 may click theT-Commerce 904 icon in the mini home 810 on the mobile computing device1104. When the login page 910 is displayed the user 102 may choose notto login. Once on the T-Commerce page 912 the user may navigate to amenu where the user may access receipts and purchase history. However,before the user 102 may gain access to this information the mobileapplication may display a pop-up dialog box for the user to enter intheir member login information. The user 102 may enter the member logininformation and when the user has been verified, the mobile applicationmay allow the user 102 to access information related to a member loginsuch as receipts, purchase history, and the like.

In an illustrative and non-limiting example, the user 102 may havelogged into the T-Commerce channel 114 when visiting the T-Commerce page912 using their mobile computing device 1104. While visiting a page onthe T-Commerce mobile site such as the T-Commerce page 912, “favorites”916, brand page 932, and the like, the user 102 may have the option ofdisplaying that page on a linked CPE 106 device. The mobile computingdevice 1104 may then launch the CPE client 108 on the CPE 106 device.The CPE client 108 running a channel application 1106 such as theT-Commerce application 1107, brand channel application 1108, and thelike may read the saved login status and reflect the saved logininformation into the current screen. If this information is notavailable, the mobile application may send the member login informationsaved in the mobile computing device 1104 to the CPE Client 108. The CPEClient 108 may then use that information to log in. The CPE Client 108may display a dialog box asking whether the user 102 wishes to inheritmember login information from the mobile application on the mobilecomputing device 1104. The user 102 may now be logged into theT-Commerce channel 114 and able to access all information on the siteincluding that information linked to member login.

In embodiments, the user 102 may select ‘share’ relative to a product,promotion, brand, and the like, which the user 102 sees displayed on theCPE 106 device. The user 102 may now be considered a “sender” as theuser 102 is initiating the sharing. The user 102/sender may download totheir paired mobile computing device 1104 content related to theproduct, promotion, brand, and the like which they wished to share. Theuser 102/sender may use the mobile computing device 1104 to send thedownloaded content to the desired recipients by leveraging the sharingfeatures of their particular mobile computing device 1104 such as email,SMS, MMS, Messenger, and the like. The recipient may view the messagereceived and see an image, token, URL related to a site where they mightdownload the T-Commerce mobile application, and the like. The recipientmay download the T-Commerce mobile application if it is not alreadyloaded on their mobile computing device 1104. The recipient may use theT-Commerce mobile application to access the content assigned to thetoken in their received message. The content may be accompanied by atoken to enable features such as tracking and validating the recipientsvisits, providing credit to referring user 102, providing credit to theT-Commerce channel 114, and the like.

In an illustrative and non-limiting application, the user 102 may selectshare relative to a product, promotion, brand, and the like, which theuser 102 sees displayed on the CPE 106 device. The user 102 may now beconsidered a “sender” as the user 102 is initiating the sharing. Adialog box may be seen on the CPE 106 display and the user 102 mayselect a method by which to share the material. The user 102/sender mayclick on their preferred medium such as email, MMS, message with theT-Commerce application 1107, and the like. The CPE 106 device may show adialog box to get input from the user 102/sender. The user 102/sendermay use the mobile application on their mobile computing device 1104 toenter texts or to push contact information such as address, phonenumber, email, and the like, to the dialog box. The CPE client 108 maysend the share message to the recipient. The recipient may receive themessage and open it with a tool capable of opening the message type.

In an illustrative and non-limiting example, the user 102 may havelogged into the T-Commerce channel 114 when visiting the T-Commerce page912 using their mobile computing device 1104. While visiting a page onthe T-Commerce mobile site the user 102 may select an option to puttheir favorite content on the user's 102 preferred social network sitesuch as Facebook, Twitter, and the like. The mobile application on themobile computing device 1104 may pop up a dialog to request logininformation for the user's 102 selected social network site. The user102 may then enter the login information, share the selected content,make comments within the social network site, and the like.

In an illustrative and non-limiting example, the user 102 may wish toaccess the T-Commerce channel 114 while using applications other the CPEclient 108 on the CPE 106 device. A plurality of channel applications1106 such as the T-Commerce application 1107, brand channel application1108, and the like, may send messages to the CPE 106 device such asadvertisements, URLs of interest, metadata and the like. In embodiments,the CPE client 108 may run in background and receive these messageswhile the user is engaged with other applications on the CPE 106. TheCPE client 108 may use Auto Content Recognition (ACR) on the incomingmessages and may cause a pop-up box to appear on the CPE 106 displaycomprising a second screen option for selected messages. The user 102may have set preferences for the types of incoming messages for whichthe user 102 wished to receive such notification. The user 102 may wishto continue displaying an application other than the CPE client 108 onthe CPE 106 device and may, therefore, select the ‘add additionalscreen’ which may send content information such as URL, metadata, andthe like to a mobile computing device 1104 paired with the CPE 106. Theuser 102 may then view provided content from a plurality of channelapplications 1106 using the T-Commerce mobile application or the localbrowser on the mobile computing device 1104.

Referring to FIG. 19, a top-level embodiment block diagram 1900 ispresented illustrating two paths for transferring data between aT-Commerce/brand shop 1902 and a mobile computing device 1104 connectedto a printing device 1104.

In embodiments, the mobile computing device 1104 may communicate with aT-Commerce/brand shop 1902 in a plurality of ways such as: directlyusing one of a plurality of standard wireless protocol; through anintermediary device such as a CPE 106; and the like. The mobilecomputing device 1104 may communicate with a printing device 1104 usingone of a plurality of standard wireless printing protocols. The user 102may select material to print such as images, coupons, receipts, deliveryinformation, and the like from a T-commerce/brand shop 1902. Inembodiments, the selected material may be transferred directly to thewireless computing device 1104, Path A, using one of plurality of meanssuch as WiFi, cellular, and the like. In embodiments, the selectedmaterial may be transferred to the wireless computing device 1104 withthe CPE 106 as an intermediary, Path B. The requested data may be sentthrough the remote browser 112 to the CPE 106. The CPE 106 may then sendthe material to be printed to the mobile computing device 1104 usingeither standard wireless protocols or proprietary wireless communicationprotocols. The mobile computing device 1104 may then send the materialto be printed to the printing device 1004.

In an illustrative and non-limiting example, the user 102 may havelogged into the T-Commerce channel 114 when visiting the T-Commerce page912 using their mobile computing device 1104. While visiting a page onthe T-Commerce mobile site the user 102 may click on a page or menudisplaying information they want to print such as receipts, purchaseinfo, product information, delivery information, coupons, and the like.The user 102 may be shown a plurality of options one of which may beprinting. The user 102 may then select the print option. The T-Commercemobile application may retrieve the content to be printed from theT-Commerce server. If the mobile computing device 1104 has a configuredprinter the content to be printed may be automatically sent to theprinting device 1004. If the mobile computing device 1104 has noassociated printing device 1004 a pop-up dialog box may appear tofacilitate the user 102 in configuring a printing device 1004.

T-Commerce Channel

In embodiments, the T-Commerce channel 114 may facilitate ease ofshopping and improved decision making capabilities for the user 102 bymeans such as consistent terminology and navigation hierarchies,application wide search capability, personalized content, navigationaltools, and the like. In embodiments, brand owners may display theirmerchandising information such as products, prices lists, promotionalinformation, cross-sells, up-sells, and the like on their brand channel116 while benefiting from the integration with the T-Commerce channel114.

Referring to FIG. 20, a top-level embodiment block diagram 2000 ispresented illustrating the interrelationship between the deliveryplatform 110, the T-Commerce application gateway 2014, the hostedchannel application repository 2006, the proxy-caching server 2018, aplurality of brand channels 116 and the T-Commerce data servicesdatabase 2012.

In embodiments, the T-Commerce application gateway 2014 may act as afront door to a plurality of T-Commerce application servers 2024. TheT-Commerce application gateway 2014 may comprise a firewall and loadbalancer 2016. The firewall may limit access to the plurality ofT-Commerce application servers 2024, proxy caching servers 2018, andcaches 2020 to only those approved protocols and ports. The loadbalancer may monitor the utilization of a plurality of proxy-cachingservers 2018 and T-Commerce application servers 2024 and may redirectnew sessions as appropriate. There may be a cluster of proxy cachingservers 2018 wherein each may comprise a web proxy 2020 and a cache2022. The cache 2022 may store the latest brand assets 2028 supplied bythe brand channel 116. The web proxy 2020 may redirect, as appropriate,requests such as content requests, Rest API requests, applicationrequests, data services requests, and the like, to one or more of: ahosted channel application repository 2006 comprising brand applicationbundles 2008 and T-Commerce application bundles 2010; a T-Commerce dataservices DB 2012; a plurality of brand web applications 2026; and thelike.

In embodiments, a T-Commerce application gateway 2014 may act as theinterface between the T-Commerce backend system and the deliveryplatform 110 where the delivery platform may comprise a plurality ofremote browsers 112 running channel applications 2002 supported bychannel libraries 2004 and the like. In embodiments, the plurality ofT-Commerce application servers 2024 may each run a T-Commerceapplication bundle 2010 which may implement business logic, interactwith T-Commerce data services data base 2012, and the like. Data storedin the T-Commerce data services database 2012 may be secured usingencryption, password protection, and the like. The T-Commerce system maysupport user identification and access management such as userprovisioning, authentication, authorization, Federated Single-Sign-On,SSO, and the like.

There may be a cache 2022 which may host and distribute T-Commercechannel 114 assets to the T-Commerce application 1107, brand assets 2028to brand web applications 2026, and the like. Brand data stores 2216,described later herein, may support such abilities as: registration anduploading of new brand assets; updating of media and metadata assets;tracking of media and metadata asset versions; removal of previousversions of media and metadata assets.

In embodiments, the brands may provide content for the T-Commercechannel 114 to display in a plurality of locations such as “windowshop”, “favorites”, and the like. In embodiments, all brand content andasset data maintained and displayed on the T-Commerce channel 114 maypublic information. In embodiments, the T-Commerce channel 114 maysupport a plurality of highly dynamic content layouts such as a main“window shop” landing page, a “favorites” landing page, and the like.The main “window shop” landing page may comprise a plurality of sectionssuch as a navigation menu, brand tiles content area, and the like. Thebrand tiles content area may be dynamically composed of a plurality ofbrand tiles wherein each brand tile may vary in display attributes suchas width, height, screen location, and the like. These brand tiledisplay attributes may vary based on age of brand channel 116,timeliness of content, user personalization preferences, business rules,and the like. The brand tiles may display brand specific content such asstatic images, animated images, slow-motion videos, text, and the like

The “favorites” landing page may comprise a plurality of sections suchas a navigation menu section, a “favorites” content area, and the like.The “favorites” content area may comprise a plurality of content areassuch as a “favorites” brand store channel 116 carousel; personalizedproduct modules areas such as “wish list”, trending, sales, and thelike; brand store promotional banners; and the like. A personalizedproduct modules area may be dynamically composed of a plurality ofproduct tiles wherein each product tile may vary in display attributessuch as width, height, screen location, and the like. Personalizedproduct module areas such as “wish list”, trending, sales, and the like,may display a numerical indicator of how many product tiles are in thatparticular module area. The user 102 may have ability to scroll throughthe list of displayed product tiles. There may be an option available tothe user 102 to expand the screen space used by an individual productmodule area to facilitate the display of additional product titles.There may be an option available to the user 102 to expand the screenspace used by an individual product tile to display additional detailsabout the individual product.

Referring to FIG. 21, a top-level embodiment block diagram 2100 ispresented illustrating the T-commerce channel 114 which may have aclient (browser) side 2102 and a server side 2104. The client (browser)side 2102 may comprise a client application 2108 such as a CPE client108, a T-Commerce mobile application, and the like. The clientapplication 2108 may render a view 2110 on the screen of the device withwhich the user 102 is interacting, such as a CPE 106, mobile computingdevice 1104, and the like. The client application 2108 may interact witha gateway application 2112 on the server side where the gatewayapplication 2112 facilitates access to the channel applications 1106such as the T-Commerce application 1107, brand channel applications1108, and the like. In turn, the channel applications may retrievecontent from a content cache 2116 such as the cache server 1010, themobile asset repository 1112, and the like.

Referring to FIG. 22, a top-level flow diagram 2200 is presentedillustrating the communication flow between various T-Commerce systemcomponents in response to a user-initiated event. In embodiments, theuser 102 may click on the T-Commerce icon 2201 displayed by the CPEClient 108 using the remote device 104. The CPE client 108 may passcontrol to the DP remote browser 112 using a token such as the useridentifier, and the like. The DP remote browser 112 may invoke 2203 theT-Commerce server 2202 which may respond 2204 by sending HTML andJavaScript for the T-Commerce channel 114 home page to the DP remotebrowse 112. The DP remote browser 112 may then send a request fornavigation bar assets to the T-Commerce data service 2212 which mayrespond with the requested navigation bar information 2206. The DPremote browser 112 may send a request for brand information 2207 to theproxy channel asset cache 2204 which may send the request for brandinformation 2207A to the brand data service 2210. The brand data service2210 may return the brand information 2208A to the proxy channel assetcache 2204 which may forward the requested brand information 2208 to theDP remote browser 112. The DP remote browser 112 may send user 102identification information, such as member login, password, username,and the like, together with a request for “favorites” 2209 to theT-Commerce data stores 2214. The T-Commerce data stores 2214 may thenreturn the “favorites” information 2210 to the DP remote browser 112.The DP remote browser 112 may then send a request for web assets 2211 tothe proxy channel asset cache 2204. If the requested web assets 2211 areavailable, on the proxy channel asset cache 2204 it may return the webassets 2212 to the DP remote browser 112. If the requested web assets2211 are not available on the proxy channel asset cache 2204 it may senda request for the web assets 2211A to the brand channel server 2206. Thebrand channel server 2206 may return the requested web assets 2212A tothe proxy channel asset cache 2204 which may send the request web assets2212 to the DP remote browser 112. The DP remote browser 112 may thenstream 2213 the T-Commerce channel 114 home page to the CPE Client 108.

In embodiments, the T-Commerce data base 2214 may comprise informationon individual users such as “favorites”, “wish list”, global cart,aggregated order history, navigation topics taxonomy, and the like. Inembodiments, the brand data stores 2216 may comprise content, mediaassets, and the like, relating to such areas as product specification,brand configuration, trending products, on sale products, brand orderhistory, brand shopping cart, and the like.

In embodiments, the hosted channel application repository 2006 maycomprise APIs which may support the ability for new brand applicationbundles 2008 to be registered and uploaded, the ability for a brandapplication bundle 2008 to be updated, the ability for a brandapplication bundle 2008 to be deleted or disabled so it does not appearin the list of available brands, and the like.

In embodiments, there may be an API that provides key services withinthe T-Commerce application 1107 environment with respect to “favorites”,“wish list”, aggregated order history, global cart, navigation topicstaxonomy, and the like. The API may provide such services as retrievinginformation, creating new items, updating/modifying items, deletingexisting items, and the like.

In embodiments, there may be an API that provides key backend businessservices related to product specification, brand configuration, trendingproducts, on sale products, brand order history, brand shopping cart,and the like. The API may provide such services as retrievinginformation on an individual item, retrieving information on all items,creating new items, updating/modifying items, delete existing items, andthe like.

In embodiments, there may be brand application bundles 2008 which mayfacilitate product specification, brand configuration, specifying andmanaging trending products, specifying and managing on sale products,managing brand order history, specifying and managing brand shoppingcart, and the like.

Advertisement Facility

In embodiments, the T-Commerce system may include advertising services.Such advertising services may leverage the use of an advertising serverto offer targeted advertisements to users across multiple brandchannels. Such an advertising server may include advertisements frombrand channels and from other sources. The advertising server may selectadvertising content to serve personalized, customized advertisements toa given user based on data about that user, which may includeinformation on past purchases, programs viewed, demographic information,brand channels joined, favorites, wish lists, shopping carts, and thelike. The advertising server may also serve advertisements that are notpersonalized or customized to users in one brand channel or acrossmultiple brand channels. The advertising server may acquire such userdata from the T-Commerce channel, as defined herein, and may share userdata across multiple brands.

In embodiments, the T-Commerce system's advertising services may includebanner advertising. In these embodiments, such banner advertising mayinclude sound, images, video, and the like, which may be accompanied bymetadata, computer code, and the like. As used herein, the term “banneradvertisement” may refer to any advertisement that does not fill ascreen in its entirety, regardless of the shape or size of theadvertisement, such that vertical tower advertisements may also bereferred to as banner advertisements, as may hot spot advertisementsthat correspond to objects displayed on the screen, roundadvertisements, screen-edge advertisements, and the like. Banneradvertisements may change in shape or they may be static. Banneradvertisements may be enabled, such that when they are clicked orotherwise selected they take one or more actions. These actions mayinclude one or more of the following: (1) linking to a URL, which may ormay not result in changing the content displayed on a portion of thescreen or on the whole screen; (2) initiating, cancelling, or otherwisechanging functionality; (3) running a script or other computer code; (4)adding an item or items to a shopping cart; (5) adding an item or itemsto a wish list; and (5) other actions that may be appropriate based onthe selection of the banner advertisement in question. For example,clicking a banner advertisement could add a product to a shopping cart,initiate a picture-in-picture feature, display a brand channel in themain screen area, display a purchase confirmation screen in a smallerscreen area, and launch computer code that stores metadata relating tothe circumstances in which the banner was clicked such as thedemographics of the user, the product added to the shopping cart, andthe like. In another example of these embodiments, a banneradvertisement may be configured such that when it is clicked ittransfers the user to a brand channel, displaying that brand channel onthe user's screen.

In embodiments, there may be a designated screen area for the display ofbanner advertisements. In these embodiments, clicking or otherwiseselecting a banner advertisement may redirect a user to one or more ofthe following: (1) a portal channel from which multiple brand channelsmay be browsed; (2) a brand channel's main page; (3) a brand channel'sretail shop page; (4) a product-specific page; (5) a shopping channelthat includes products from multiple brand channels; and (6) anotherchannel or page that may be appropriate based on the banneradvertisement selected. In these embodiments, the duration that a banneradvertisement may be displayed and which banner advertisement replacesit may be determined by the advertising server and may depend on suchfactors as the number of banner advertisements determined to beappropriate for display in that location, information about the user,information about programs watched, wish list data, purchase history,user behavior, channel content, and other relevant factors. In somecases, it may be appropriate to rotate a fixed number of advertisements.In other cases, it may be appropriate to select advertisementssequentially. In cases where there are multiple users within ahousehold, it may be useful to attempt to determine which user or usersare viewing the CPE 106 at that time, since different banneradvertisements might be appropriate to different users.

In commerce generally and in electronic commerce in particular,information about a customer may be valuable in serving the needs ofthat customer and completing transactions with that customer. However,since a single television may be used by multiple people, it may bedifficult to identify who is watching a given television at a giventime. This problem is of particular significance when deliveringadvertising content to television viewers, since an advertisement thatmay be appropriate for one viewer may be inappropriate for anotherviewer. Definite identifications may be made when a viewerself-identifies (e.g. logs in with a personal user name, selects hisname from a menu, etc.), through the use of biometric inputs (e.g.fingerprint readers, retinal scanners, and the like), but users maychose not to self-identify and may prefer not to make use of biometricidentification technologies. Therefore, a need exists for a vieweridentification tool.

In embodiments, the T-Commerce application may provide a vieweridentification tool. Such a viewer identification tool may collect andanalyze data from a number of sources to make probabilisticdeterminations about who is watching a given television at a given time.In cases where no one factor is determinative as to who is using a CPE(such as self-identification, biometric identification, and the like),the CPE may invoke software that may weigh and analyze a number offactors to make probabilistic determinations regarding the identity ofviewers. Such factors may include one or more of the following: (1) userprofiles of household members; (2) purchase histories of householdmembers; wish lists of household members; viewing history of householdmembers; (3) recent activity, such as recently viewed programming,recently visited channels and pages, recent purchases, recent wish listchanges, frequency of channel changes (i.e. different users may havedifferent channel-changing patterns of behavior, which may be used toidentify those users, possibly through the use of pattern-recognitionsoftware); and the like; (4) MAC hardware addresses of recently useddevices; (5) current time of day, day of week, day of month, month ofyear, and the like; (6) self-identification by users, such as logging onto make a transaction, confirming a user id (possibly by clicking on orotherwise selecting a name on the screen), and the like; (7) biometricuser data; (8) voice recognition of voice commands or other ambientspeech; (9) face recognition of viewers; (10) the location within a homein which the screen being viewed is located; (11) the size of the screenbeing viewed; (12) the number of people watching the CPE, which may bedetermined using cameras, microphones, motion detectors, infra-redsensors, and the like, possibly in combination with software that mayinterpret information acquired through such sensors; and (13) otherindicators that tend to make it more likely that a given user iswatching the television in question at that time. In making such viewerprobability calculations, certain of these factors may be given greaterweight in combination than individually. For example, time of day byitself may offer little indication of who is watching a given screen,but when combined with data indicating that at that time of daychildren's programming is frequently viewed on that screen, theprobability that a child is watching the screen may increaseconsiderably.

In embodiments, the viewer identification tool may be enabled to makeprobabilistic determinations regarding the location of a given CPE. Incases where a CPE's location is not provided by a user, the vieweridentification tool may collect and analyze available data to make sucha determination. Such data may include any data related to the use ofthe CPE, including installation, setup, operation, and the like.Operation data may include information relating to the one or more ofthe following: (1) the times the CPE is used (including time of day, dayof week, day of month, month of year, frequency of use, duration of use,and the like); (2)

For example, a small screen on which children's programming isfrequently viewed in the morning and news programming is frequentlyviewed in the evening may have a high probability of being located in akitchen.

In cases where a remote device 104 being used to control the CPE 106 maybe associated with a single user such as a mobile computing device 1104,it may be possible to make such determinations with a high level ofconfidence. Similarly, it may be possible to identify a user who hasrecently logged in based on the user's log-in information and it may bepossible determine a user's user ID on a given CPE based on that user'sactivity, possibly including setting preferences, clicking or otherwiseselecting the user's name from a menu, and the like. In other cases, itmay not be possible to identify a user with a high level of confidence.Even in cases where one user may be identified with a high level ofconfidence as watching a CPE, there may be one or more other userswatching the same CPE at the same time. In any of these circumstances,it may be appropriate to select banner advertisements that are likely toappeal to as many as possible of the unique users of the particular CPE106. Factors that may be used to determine which user or users areviewing the CPE 106 at a given time may include one or more of thefollowing: (1) user profiles of household members; (2) purchasehistories of household members; wish lists of household members; viewinghistory of household members; (3) recently activity, such as recentlyviewed programming, recently visited channels and pages, recentpurchases, recent wish list changes, frequency of channel changes (i.e.different users may have different channel-changing patterns ofbehavior, which may be used to identify those users, possibly throughthe use of pattern-recognition software); and the like; (4) MAC hardwareaddresses of recently used devices; (5) current time of day, day ofweek, day of month, month of year, and the like; (6) self-identificationby users, which may include recent self-identifications as well aspatterns of self-identifications on that CPE over time; and (7) otherindicators that tend to make it more likely that a given user may bewatching the CPE 106 in question at that time. In these embodiments, theadvertising server may calculate likely viewers based on data passed toit by the CPE 106 and other sources. Alternatively, the calculation asto probable users may be made elsewhere and be passed to the advertisingserver. Data on probable users may be stored in data sets containinguser identification numbers and the corresponding percentage probabilitythat a given user may be currently watching that television and possiblyalso a percentage confidence that the percentage probability may becorrect.

In embodiments, there may be a publisher advertising server, which mayinclude a database of banner advertisements, and there may be one ormore third-party advertising servers, which may include content forbanner advertisements. In these embodiments, the clicking or otherselection of a banner advertisement (e.g. pointing with a remotecontrol, gesturing, issuing an oral command, issuing a command through amobile device, and the like) may send a signal to the publishingadvertising server, which may redirect the request to a third-partyadvertising server. The third-party advertising server may serveadvertising content or may further redirect the request to a contentdelivery network (“CDN”), which may serve advertising content. Otherserver arrangements may also be used to optimize the delivery ofcontent, such as external cache servers, compressed asset decompressionand delivery systems, and the like. In these embodiments, the publishingserver may store an event log and may be enabled to generate an auditlog. Such an audit log may include information on the number of times anadvertisement has been viewed, the duration of such views, the number oftimes the advertisement has been clicked or selected, and the like. Suchaudit log data may be shared with other service delivery platforms,possibly including components that calculate advertising performance,components that calculate charges for pay-per-click advertisements,components that calculate charges for pay-per-view advertisements, andthe like.

In embodiments, banner advertising may involve a number of categories ofdata. These data categories may include one or more of the following:(1) data required to deliver advertising content to a user, such as abanner advertisement's identification number, the URL where the contentof the banner advertisement may be located, the URL where the banneradvertisement is to be displayed, and the like; (2) data required by theanalytics system, such as identifying information on the product orproducts being advertised, the categories of such products beingadvertised, user demographics, user activity, other information aboutthe user, household information; the MAC hardware address of thetelevision on which the banner advertisement may be displayed; the MAChardware addresses of mobile devices, controllers, and the like used toselect or click on a banner advertisement, and the like; (3) eventslogs, which may include details of banner advertisements displayed suchas time, size, position, and the like; details of banner advertisementsclicked or otherwise selected such as time, size position, identity ofclicking or selecting device, and the like, details of contentclicked-on, details of actions taken, navigation paths (e.g., within andbetween brand channels and areas of the T-commerce system), time logs,and the like; and (4) other events related to banner advertising.

In embodiments, banner advertising may be initiated by a plurality ofprecipitating events such as user 102 actions, system conditions,time-based, and the like. In an example of these embodiments, banneradvertising may be initiated when a user 102 visits the T-Commercechannel 114, at which time three advertisements may be displayed.Continuing the example, the user 102 may click on the first of the threeadvertisements and be directed to a shopping channel that includesproducts from multiple brand channels 116. The user 102 may then selectthe home button on the navigation bar, which may redirect the user 102back to the main T-Commerce channel 114 page. When the user 102 arrivesback at the main T-Commerce channel 114 page, three new banneradvertisements may be displayed there. Alternatively, the banneradvertisement that has already been clicked by the user might bereplaced by a new banner advertisement and the other two advertisementsmight remain. In a third alternative variation, all three of theoriginal banner advertisements may be displayed again. In some cases,banner advertisements may vary in type. For example, there may be abanner advertisement that describes a specific product, a second banneradvertisement that describes a category of products, and a third banneradvertisement that identifies a brand channel, such that eachadvertisement could lead to a corresponding landing page. If a user 102clicks on or otherwise selects the first of these advertisements, theuser 102 may be redirected to a product detail page offering informationand purchase links regarding the product in question. Alternatively, thefirst advertisement may include the words “buy now” or equivalentlanguage and clicking on or otherwise selecting that advertisement mayplace the product advertised into the user's 102 global cart 702 and maytake the user 102 to a purchase confirmation screen.

In embodiments, the T-Commerce system's advertising services may includefull-screen advertising. Such full-screen advertising may include all ofthe types of content that may be included in banner advertising (e.g.images, videos, sound, and the like) and may share other characteristicswith banner advertising, as described above. Full-screen advertisementsmay be delivered using the same servers and other components as banneradvertisements or they may be delivered from dedicated servers, or theymay be delivered from other sources. Full-screen advertisements may beinitiated by user actions within a banner advertisement, within a brandchannel, while viewing programming, and the like. For example, a userviewing a banner advertisement about a product may click that banneradvertisement launching a full-screen video about the product (e.g. acommercial, a movie trailer, a video describing the features of theproduct, or the like). In another example, a brand channel may feature alink, which may be labeled “more information,” “learn more,” “see it inaction,” or the like and may launch a full-screen advertisement whenclicked or otherwise selected. In another example, a full-screenadvertisement may be launched without user input, such as when a brandchannel is left on the same screen for a period of time.

In embodiments, the T-Commerce system's advertising services may includeautomatic content recognition (“ACR”) advertising. ACR advertising maybe enabled to identify products in streaming video and to generatepop-up dialog boxes relating to those products that may be clicked orselected by users 102. These pop-up dialog boxes may link to moreinformation about the products in question, to related brand channels,to related product category pages, or to other channels and pages thatare appropriate based on the products identified, user information, andother relevant factors. These pop-up dialog boxes may have any or all ofthe characteristics of banner advertisements, as described above. Thesepop-up dialog boxes may also have additional characteristics that areparticular to ACR advertising. ACR advertising services may be providedinternally by the T-commerce system or externally by an ACR vendor orother third-party provider. In some cases, advertising brands may berequired to provide content to an ACR vendor. Such content may be usedto extract identifying information. Such identifying information may beused to facilitate the process of recognizing applicable products instreaming video.

In embodiments, ACR advertising may be limited to products of brandsthat register with the T-Commerce advertising server. Such registrationmay include providing one or more of the following: (1) the URL of atarget page to which the pop-up dialog box should be linked; (2) the URLof advertising content to be included in the pop-up dialog box; (3)other information, as appropriate. Restrictions may be placed on wherethe target page information may be stored. For example, it may bepossible that the system may be set up to prevent ACR vendors fromstoring the target pages of their ACR advertisements on their ACRadvertising servers. Such restrictions may be useful for preventingfraud, abuse, self-dealing, inflated click-through numbers, and thelike. FIG. 23 illustrates an example of these embodiments involving avendor server. As illustrated in FIG. 23, brands 2308 may provideadvertising content to a fingerprint tooling 2302 system. Such afingerprint tooling 2302 system may generate advertisement signatureidentification information, which may be provided to a vender server2304 as well as to a T-Commerce management server 2306. Brands mayprovide the URL of a target page to which the pop-up dialog box shouldbe linked and the URL of advertising content to be included in thepop-up dialog box to the T-Commerce management server 2306. TheT-Commerce management server may then send the URL of this advertisingcontent to the vendor server. Instead of or in addition to using avendor server, the system may use another form of advertising facility.Once the advertising facility, which may be a vendor server, hasadvertisement identification signature information and the URL of ACRdialog content, the system may begin the process of delivering ACRadvertising to users. The process of delivering such content isillustrated in FIG. 24. Referring to FIG. 24, an ACR client 2406embedded in a CPE 106 may run in the background on the CPE 106 and mayanalyze content being displayed on the screen of the CPE 106, togetherwith audio being played by the CPE 106, to search for signatures thatmatch the product fingerprints that correspond to ACR advertisements.Once a product signature has been detected, the ACR client 2406 may sendthe signature of the detected product to an advertisement facility 118,which may match that signature to the URL of corresponding ACR dialogcontent and return that information to the ACR client 2406. The ACRclient 2406 may then use the URL provided to it by the advertisementfacility 118 to retrieve the ACR dialog content from a content source2408. Such content may include images, video, audio, and the like. Oncethis content has been retrieved, it may be displayed in the ACR dialogbox on the CPE 106. The content may be accompanied by one or morebuttons. Such buttons may be labeled with actions that may include oneor more of the following: “Visit Now,” “Favorite,” “Visit Later,”“Exit,” and the like. If a user 102 responds to the dialog box byclicking or otherwise selecting a “Visit Now” or equivalent button, theACR client 2406 may then retrieve the URL of the target page from theT-Commerce management server 2306 and may invoke the CPE client with theURL of the target page; the CPE client may then signal one of thechannel applications 1106 to display the target page on the screen ofthe CPE 106, possibly using a picture-in-picture feature to preview thetarget page. The channel application displaying the page may be theT-Commerce channel application 1107, a brand channel application 1108,or the like. If a user 102 clicks or otherwise selects the “Favorite”button, the ACR client 2406 may pass this information along to the CPEclient 108, which may, in turn pass the information along to appropriateservers, as necessary to add that product to the user 102's favoriteslist, such servers possibly including the T-Commerce management server2306. Similarly, if the user 102 clicks or otherwise selects the “VisitLater” option, the ACR client 2406 may pass this information along tothe CPE client 108, which may, in turn pass the information along toappropriate servers, as necessary to prompt the user with a “Visit Now?”inquiry for that product at a future time, such servers possiblyincluding the T-Commerce management server 2306. This prompt may beoffered in a pop-up box, as a banner, as an auditory prompt, or asanother form of audio or visual inquiry. If the user 102 clicks orotherwise selects the “Exit” button or an equivalent option, the dialogbox may be removed from the screen immediately. If the user 102 does notrespond to a dialog box, it may be removed from the screen after a fixedperiod of time or it may remain until the user takes another action.This fixed period of time may have a default value, which may possiblybe five seconds. This fixed period of time may also vary depending uponproduct or other factors. The period of time that a dialog box may bedisplayed may be determined by agreement with a brand owner or othercompany displaying the advertisement in question or may be determinedusing other factors.

In embodiments, a target page linked to by ACR advertisements may bebrand channel product page, a main brand channel landing page, a productcategory page, or another page or channel. Target pages may be displayedfull screen or picture-in-picture. ACR advertising-related activity maybe recorded in an audit log. The T-Commerce system may provide optionsfor changing the duration of ACR advertising display, the frequency ofACR advertising display, the depth of ACR advertising overlay display,the transparency of ACR advertising overlay display, and the like. Theremay also be options for blocking the display of certain ACRadvertisements, certain classes of ACR advertising, and the like.

In embodiments, ACR advertisements may be displayed alongside livetelevision programming, recorded television programming, still images,and the like.

In embodiments, users may browse lists of ACR advertisements. Such ACRadvertisement browsing may take a number of forms. In one such form, auser may navigate to a channel on which various advertisements arelisted, possibly including thumbnail images of advertisement content.Such a channel may display one or more of the following and multiplesuch channels are possible: (1) ACR advertisements from a particularbrand channel; (2) ACR advertisements from a particular productcategory; (3) a complete list of ACR advertisements that have beendisplayed on a given television within a set period of time; (4) acomplete list of ACR advertisements that have been displayed to a givenhousehold within a set period of time; (5) a listing of ACRadvertisements based on user preferences; (6) a list of ACRadvertisements for which the “Visit Later” option was selected; (7) alist of ACR advertisements for which the “Favorite” option was selected;(8) a combined list of ACR advertisements for which either the “VisitLater” or the “Favorite” option was selected; (9) a list of ACRadvertisements that have previously been viewed, by selecting the “VisitNow” option or by navigating to them through another path; and (10) alisting of ACR advertisements based on other selection criteria. Inthese embodiments, ACR advertisements that were responded to may behighlighted to show the nature of the response. For example, an ACRadvertisement whose “Visit Now” button has been clicked may behighlighted in green, an ACR advertisement whose “Visit Later” buttonhas been clicked may be highlighted in red, and the like. In theseembodiments, such lists of ACR advertisements may be enabled with activelinks, such that users may click on them with the same effect as byclicking the “Visit Now” button associated with that advertisement'sdialog box.

In embodiments, the T-Commerce system's advertising services may includeoverlay advertising that uses object recognition to make video streams(e.g. programs) clickable. In these embodiments, the ACR client runningon a CPE may analyze image streams not only for ACR advertisingsignatures, but also for images, possibly through the use of imagerecognition software. When an image is recognized, it may be madeclickable or selectable using an invisible overlay and may possibly behighlighted with a semi-transparent overlay. Whether recognized objectsare highlighted may depend on user preference settings. When ahighlighted object is clicked or otherwise selected by a user, it mayprompt a search of T-Commerce channels for the closest matching productor product category and may display the results of that search, possiblyusing picture-in-picture technology. It is possible that advertisers maybe permitted to purchase rights to overlay advertising based on producttype, product category, or other criteria. For example, an advertisermay purchase overlay advertising for cars and have its products or brandchannel displayed when a user clicks an overlay image of a car.

In embodiments, the T-Commerce system's advertising services may includean interactive brand channel (“IBC”) banner. An IBC banner may be animage of any dimensions, possibly associated with video and sound, whichappears on the home dashboard of a CPE. An IBC banner may use one ormore of a wide range of file formats and technologies, such as jpeg,simple Small Web Format, Flash, mpeg, mp3, and the like. As illustratedin FIG. 25, there may be a banner server 2504 on which informationrelating to an IBC banner may be located. Such information may includeone or more of the following: (1) identifying information, such asidentification number, category, and the like; (2) the location of theIBC banner's content; (3) the URL to which the IBC banner is to link;and (4) other appropriate information relating to the IBC banner. Theremay be a banner client 2506 that may be launched on the CPE 106 when theCPE 106 is started or at other appropriate times, such as when a link tothe home dashboard is clicked or otherwise selected by a user; when aCPE is restarted or rebooted; and the like. Upon startup, the bannerclient 2506 may query the banner server 2504 and may retrieveinformation concerning the IBC banner. The banner client 2506 may thenuse the information retrieved from the banner server 2504 to locate andretrieve the source content of banner 2508. The banner client 2506 maythen display the IBC banner on the home dashboard 2502 of the CPE. Auser 102 may then have the option to click on or otherwise select theIBC banner. If a user 102 selects or otherwise clicks on the IBC banner,the banner client 2506 may invoke the CPE client 108 with the URL of theIBC banner's target page, which may cause the CPE client 108 to launchone of the channel applications 1106. Such channel applications mayinclude the T-Commerce channel application 1107, the brand channelapplication 1108, and the like. The applicable channel application maydisplay the requested page on the CPE 106. This page may be a brandchannel application 1108 home page, a T-Commerce channel application1107 home page, or another page.

In embodiments, the T-Commerce system's advertising services' technicalarchitecture may include a number of system components. As illustratedin FIG. 26, these system components may include T-Commerce member data2602, an advertiser ad server 2604, a content delivery network 2606, anavigation router 2608, and a publisher ad server 2610, and the like. Inthese embodiments, the actions of a user 102 may prompt an advertisementrequest, which may be transmitted to a publisher ad server 2610, whichmay respond by redirecting the user to the correct advertiser ad server2604. In turn, the advertiser ad server 2604 may redirect the user to acontent delivery network, which may serve the advertisement to the user102. Once the advertisement has been served, the user 102, may click onor otherwise select the advertisement or buttons associated with theadvertisement. Such actions by a user may trigger a navigation router2608 to take the user to an appropriate page or channel, such as aproduct detail view, a T-Commerce shop, a brand channel retail store, orthe like. The navigation router 2608 may be enabled to facilitatetransitions to content pages within the T-Commerce application. Forexample, the navigation router 2608 may make use of frameworks such asbackbone routers to route applications URLs consisting of hash tags, soas to access specific views within single-page application environmentswherein individual pages do not have their own URLs. For example, thenavigation router 2608 may facilitate transitions to such landing pagesas multi-product shop landing pages, brand landing pages, specificproduct landing pages, and the like.

Brand Channel

In embodiments, the T-Commerce system may include brand channels. Suchbrand channels may be television optimized, company-specific storefrontsand may incorporate content from companies seeking to sell products orservices into high definition web page templates specially designed tobe displayed on television sets. Brand channels may be accessed througha T-Commerce channel. Brand channels share characteristics with webpages, but also differ in significant respects. Just as a page that isoptimized for viewing on a mobile device may differ significantly fromthe version of that same page optimized for viewing through a computer'sweb browser, a brand channel may differ significantly from a web pagefrom the same company displaying the same products or services. Liketraditional web pages, brand channels may exclusively feature theproducts and services of a given company and the content of brandchannels may be managed by that company. However, brand channels mayalso have one or more of the following characteristics that distinguishthem from traditional web pages: (1) brand channels may be optimized fordisplay on high-resolution screens, possibly of 50-inches or more(measured diagonally); (2) brand channels may be designed to takeadvantage of the television environment through the addition ofinteractive video content and similar material and the adjustment ofnavigation elements to make them more compatible with the types of inputdevices likely to be used by users, including users who are using apointing device or paired mobile device to navigate, rather than amouse, track pad, or the like; (3) brand channels may have a uniformnavigation bar that may be placed and managed by a T-Commerce channelapplication and may be located in a consistent part of the screen, whichmay be the left side of the screen; (4) brand channels may be designedto minimize the need for keyboard or other text input through the use ofcontextual menus or other input strategies; (5) brand channels may makemore extensive use of audio than do traditional web pages, possiblyincluding surround sound and other forms of enhanced audio designed totake advantage of modern sound systems; (6) brand channels may beintegrated with one another and with the T-Commerce channel, such that auser who logs onto one brand channel or to the T-Commerce channel isautomatically logged on to all brand channels and to the T-Commercechannel; (7) brand channels may share data with the T-Commerce channeland other components of the disclosure, such data possibly includinguser preferences, demographic information, transaction history, and thelike; (8) brand channels may make use of standardized structuralelements or templates that are designed to facilitate the process ofcreating content-rich features that make them appear more likeinteractive television channels than web sites while minimizing theamount of additional work required to create the brand channel; (9)brand channels may make use of style sheets, which may facilitate thestandardization of their look and feel, such style sheets possibly beingprovided by the T-Commerce channel application; (10) brand channels mayoffer functionality that is not included in traditional web pages, suchas interactive guided tours and product demonstrations; (11) brandchannels may make use of shared APIs; and (12) brand channels may berequired to conform with a channel client design specification.

In embodiments, a brand channel may be implemented on a televisionthrough use of a brand channel application. Companies developing brandchannel applications may make use of one or more of the following: (1)recommended style sheets; (2) channel skins; (3) APIs; standardized dataschemas, formats, and structures; (4) other tools, technologies,standards, and the like that are determined to be appropriate forimplementation in the T-Commerce channel and the brand channels.

Referring to FIG. 27, the brand channel design process may involve abrand executive 2702, a brand client channel developer 2704, a brandsales and marketing team 2706, a third party brand channel clientdeveloper 2708, a channel client design specification 2716, the hiringof a third party development 2710 specialist, the development of a brandchannel client 2712, the updating of a brand channel client 2714, thedeployment of a brand channel client 2718, and the updating of assets2720. The brand channel executive 2702 may contract with or otherwisework with a third party development 2710 specialist. The brand clientchannel developer 2704 and the third party brand channel clientdeveloper 2708 may work to develop the brand channel client 2712 and toupdate the brand channel client 2714. The brand channel executive mayalso deploy the brand channel client 2718 to the T-Commerce environment.The channel client design specification 2716 may serve as a guide forthe brand channel developer 2704 and the third party brand channelclient developer 2708. The brand sales and marketing team 2706 mayupdate assets in the deployed brand channel client 2718.

In embodiments, companies developing brand channels may be required toregister their media content with designated servers. Such designatedservers may be located on the brand's servers, on T-Commerce servers, orelsewhere. Media content may be media that the brand channel has rightsto, such as resulting from a contractual agreement with an entity thathas control over the rights to the media. For instance, a sporting goodsmanufacturer may have a contractual agreement with the National FootballLeague (NFL) to show certain specified football games (e.g., past games,live games, game highlights). The brand channel may then provide a linkto the NFL game in connection with associated football equipment, suchas in association with a workout video, interviews with the players,news about the game. Alternatively, the brand channel may provideviewing of the NFL game on their brand channel to encourage users tovisit their branding channel, and thereby increase the probability ofincreased sales, for increased brand name recognition in associationwith the presented game, and the like. In another example, a fashionbrand may provide a link to a runway show, such as in association with acountdown clock to when the runway show is to begin, previews of theshow, news about the show, interviews with designers, and the like.Again, this media content may generate increased traffic to the brandchannel as a result of the media content offering. The presentation ofdesirable media through a brand channel may produce a user demand forthe brand channel as a ‘go-to’ site for viewing the media content (e.g.,the football game, the runway show), which correspondingly increases thename recognition of the brand. In addition, connecting the primary mediacontent (e.g., the football game) with media content that targetsspecific products (e.g., workout video and a running shoe) may moredirectly lead to increased sales of the targeted product.

In embodiments, brand channels may be required to comply withguidelines, such guidelines may specify various site interactions,possibly including interactions over APIs, interactions with televisionfeatures, interaction with T-Commerce functionality (e.g.picture-in-picture, wish lists, etc.), and the like.

In embodiments, there may be an API that may offer applications a rangeof services. Such services may enable and support a number of features.These features may include user-interface features. The API may be aJavaScript API. The operation of the API may involve the exchange ofmetadata. The API may facilitate the displaying of product lists andcategories at the navigation menu. When a user clicks, highlights, orotherwise selects a menu item, the API may pass that information to theT-commerce application or to another element of the disclosure. Thisinformation may then be used to serve appropriate content to the user.The API may also conduct user behavior tracking. Such tracking mayinvolve the collection of data on user activities and the transmissionof those data to T-Commerce servers or other aspects of the disclosure.For example, the API may track user actions involving the configurationof a filter for size and color. Similarly, the API may track usersearches, such that the API may record and transmit a data set thatincludes the search terms used, the results clicked, and the like. TheAPI may also track event times and durations and may include those dataalong with other data when storing and transmitting such data. The APImay also track devices. For example, when a user selects an “edit”command, the API may send a signal to an appropriate device. Such adevice may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wireless keyboard, oranother device through which commands may be entered. The API may alsocontrol device functionality. For example, when a user selects apicture-in-picture option, the API may place the old view into a windowin the new view or make other changes to the television's audio andvideo output. Similarly, when a user selects a “Share to Friends” optionfor a product, the API may retrieve appropriate metadata for thatproduct and transmit it to the T-Commerce channel. The API may alsomanage commerce-related activity. For example, when a user views saleinformation, the API may transmit data about the event and anyassociated information to the T-Commerce channel. Similarly, when a userpurchases an item, saves and item to a wish list, or engages in otherpurchase-related behavior, the API may transmit information on theuser's actions and associated information to the T-Commerce channel.

In embodiments, there may be a brand channel client designspecification. A brand channel client design specification may provideguidance, requirements, and the like regarding a wide range of aspectsof a brand channel. These aspects may include components that affect theuser interface and components that affect the user experience. A brandchannel design specification may include one or more of the following:(1) a list of definitions of functions, which may be JavaScriptfunctions, that may be enabled to manipulate layouts, audio and visualcontent, and the like and to gather data on user behavior, userexperiences, user demographics, and the like; (2) style sheetinformation; (3) transaction-related functionality within the brandchannel; and (4) other parameters helpful for maintaining the look andfeel and functionality of the brand channel individually and of thebrand channel in the context of other brand channels and the T-Commercechannel.

In embodiments, companies seeking to create brand channels may berequired to enter into agreements governing the exchange of and accessto data. Such agreements may require such companies to permit access tometadata, possibly including data relating to the contents of theirbrand channels and possibly also including logs of behavior and commerceactivities created by the users of such brand channels. Such agreementsmay also provide such companies with access to reports or other datasets, which may have been derived from metadata provided by the brandchannel.

In embodiments, there may be a brand channel requirement. A brandchannel requirement may encompass one or more of the following: (1) thestyle of the user interface and user experience, possibly includingspecifications for graphical design elements; (2) commerce-relatedfunctionality within the brand channel; (3) other functionality withinthe brand channel; and (4) data-related parameters, such as assumptions,structures, data flow characteristics, and the like. Such data flowcharacteristics may relate to analytics, interaction with CPE client andremote devices, matters relating to categorization of APIs regardingcommerce features in a brand channel, and the like. A brand channelrequirement may be used in the process of developing a channelapplication design specification. A channel application designspecification may include contents from a brand channel requirement, aswell as methods and tools related to the creation of brand channels,deployment-related information, and other content that may be applicableto the creation and operation of a brand channel. Suchdeployment-related information may include suggestions and requirementsregarding software to be used in deployment. For example, a channelapplication design specification could specify the use of software suchas Brand-Create, LG-Template for Brand, Brand-Hosting, LG-Hosting, andthe like.

In embodiments, brand channels may feature a navigation bar. Such anavigation bar may have one or more of the following characteristics:(1) it may be displayed on the left side of the screen; (2) it mayinclude buttons, menu bars, and the like related to transactions andother commerce-related activity; (3) it may include buttons, menu bars,and the like related to non-commerce actions and activities, suchnon-commerce actions and activities possibly including features likeBack-to-TV, picture-in-picture controls, wish lists, and the like; (4)it may accommodate the inclusion of additional functions selected by thebrand owner; and (5) it may accommodate the inclusion of additionalfunctions across multiple brand channels.

In embodiments, brand channels may incorporate a wide range of userinterface and user experience-related assets. Such assets may includefixed user-interface assets and other assets that relate to the userexperience. Such fixed user-interface assets may be defined in a userinterface guide or other documentation and may include such as: (1)icons, which may include a progress-indicator icon, such icons possiblybeing animated and possibly including accompanying audio components; (2)colors; (3) text styles, which may include font types, sizes, formats,and the like; (4) boxes, borders, lines, and the like, (5) otherstylistic elements; (6) design pattern elements, which may be displayedin a wide range of locations, such locations possibly including banners,dashboards, carts, wish lists, favorites, payment screens, socialnetwork service posting screens, log-in screens, configuration menus,and the like; and (7) other screens where such user-interface assets mayappropriately be displayed. Such other assets that relate to the userexperience may include one or more of the following: (1) automatic textcorrection and completion; (2) search style, operation, functionality,options, and the like; (3) checkbox style, operation, functionality,options, and the like; (4) menu expansion style, operation,functionality, options, and the like; (5) dialog wheel and dialog boxstyle, operation, functionality, options and the like; (6) sortingstyle, operation, functionality, options, and the like; and (7) otherassets that may affect the user experience.

In embodiments, brand channels may include commerce functionality. Suchcommerce functionality may enable users to make purchases through abrand channel. This functionality may, on some levels, be similar toability to make purchases through traditional e-commerce enabled websites using a web browser. However, brand channels 116 may have somecommerce functionality that differs in some respects from traditionale-commerce functionality. Brand channel commerce functionality may alsobe subject to customization, such that certain functions may beavailable in certain brand channels but not in other brand channels.There may also be certain universal channel commerce functionality thatis available across all brand channels. Brand channel commercefunctionality may include one or more of the following: (1) the abilityfor a user to place orders and for the system to capture orders; (2)payment processing; (3) shopping cart manipulation, which may includeadding up the items in a cart, removing items from a cart, updating itemquantities, updating item specifications (e.g. colors, sizes, and thelike), checking item availability, storing cart preferences, and thelike; (4) wish list management, which may include adding items to wishlists, creating new wish lists, removing items from wish lists, deletingwish lists, sharing wish lists, transferring wish lists, viewing sharedwish lists, and the like; (5) managing product lists, which may includerefreshing lists of available products, updating product pricing,updating shipping times, updating product characteristics, and the like;(6) presenting product information, which may include displayinginformation about products, playing audio and video information aboutproducts, providing interactive product information, providing links toadditional product information, answering questions about products, andthe like; (7) presenting lists of available products, such listspossibly including directories of a brand's products, where such listsmay be searchable and sortable by a wide range of criteria (e.g. price,size, color, style, SKU, product name, product type, product category,products liked by friends, product popularity, product reviews, and thelike); (8) displaying price information, such price information possiblyincluding the price of products selected for purchase, applicable taxinformation, applicable shipping and handling charges, totals for allapplicable charges, credit amounts, net amounts after credits, couponand discount amounts, net amounts after coupons and discounts, and thelike; (9) offering users who are not members the opportunity to sign upas members and enabling them to do so; (10) allowing members to storetransaction-related information, which may include credit card numbers,address information, phone numbers, notification preferences, securitycodes, other identifying information, expedited check-out preferences,and the like; (11) retrieving and making use of storedtransaction-related information, as needed; (12) processing refunds,customer-service inquiries, and the like; and (13) enabling andaccepting user inputs related to transactions, such inputs possiblyincluding holding up a credit card to a camera, such that credit cardinformation may be captured without the need to enter that informationmanually, nodding or gesturing with a device to approve a transaction,shaking one's head or waving a device to cancel a transaction, speakingto provide information relating to a transaction or to approve or cancela transaction, and the like; and (14) other functions related to thecompletion and execution of transactions.

In embodiments, brand channels may include non-commerce functionality.Such functionality may include events, features, and the like. Forexample, brand channels may enable users to manipulatepicture-in-picture controls, Back-to-TV features, wish lists, and thelike. Such functionality may involve a number of system components. Asillustrated in FIG. 28, these system components may include one or moreof the following: (1) a brand channel 116 server; (2) channelapplications 1106, which may include (a) a T-commerce channelapplication 1107 and (b) a brand channel application 1108; (3) a cacheserver 1110; (4) any number of CPEs 106; (5) a remote device controllerunit 104; (6) a remote browser 112; and (7) any number of mobilecomputing devices 1104. Contents of channel applications 1106 may bestored on the cache server 1110. Such content may include media files,event logs, product attributes, and the like. Such transfers may includeprocessing users' events through channel applications 1106, matchinguser events with content and product identification codes. Data may betransferred from the cache server 1110 to the analytics facility 122.This transfer of data may be effectuated using JavaScript or code fromanother programming language or by other means. As illustrated in FIG.34, the remote browser 112 may transmit data to channel applications1106 and the cache server 1110 may send data directly to the remotebrowser 112. The channel applications 1106 may be enabled to respond tosignals that CPE 106 transmits to them via the remote browser 112.Channel applications 1106 may notify CPE 106 of events, such eventspossibly including texting, and may transmit data to the cache server1110. These communications may be managed by within the channelapplications. This code may be JavaScript or code from anotherprogramming language. The brand channel 116 server may assign contentand product identification information to content, such as images, text,audio files, and video files, and may transmit data to the channelapplications 1106 and to the cache server 1110. Such transmissions maybe accomplished through use of code running on the brand channel 116server. Such code may be JavaScript or it may be code written in adifferent programming language. The analytics facility 122 may gatherdata from the cache server 1110 and other system components and mayprocess and package those data, making them valuable for businessintelligence. Information gathered by CPE 106 may be combined with othersystem data, including user data and information derived from userinteractions. Users may interact with CPE 106 using paired remotedevices 104, mobile computing devices 1104, wireless keyboards, and thelike. Such user interactions may involve controlling events in channelapplications 1106, receiving events affecting paired remote devices 1104and CPE 106 from channel applications 1106, and the like.

In embodiments, brand channels may have picture-in-picturefunctionality. Such picture-in-picture functionality may be enabled bycode within the brand channel application. This code may be JavaScriptor it may be code from another programming language. This functionalitymay include reorganizing or alternating layout of the display to clear aspace the proper size to show a picture-in-picture video stream and mayinclude establishing and maintaining such a video stream. Such a spacemay be cleared upon receipt of a signal from the CPE client that theuser has initiated a request to initiate picture-in-picturefunctionality. Such a video stream may include sound or may be muteddepending upon user preferences and inputs. This code may also beenabled to respond to user inputs initiating other events. Such eventsmay include altering the size of the picture-in-picture video stream,changing the volume of the picture-in-picture video stream, swapping toa different video stream, changing the size of the area in which thepicture-in-picture video stream is being displayed, and the like.

In embodiments, brand channels may include data collectionfunctionality. This data collection functionality may make use of aglobal cache, a cache server, or another storage component. Datacollection code, which may be written in JavaScript or anotherprogramming language, may check the data behind content (e.g. a menu)and perform one or more of the following functions: (1) it maymanipulate the content, such as by compressing or encrypting it; (2) itmay transmit the content, such as by storing in on a server, which maybe a cache server; (3) it may manipulate other data repositories, suchas wish lists, shopping carts, delivery status files, and the like; and(4) it may perform other actions appropriate to the data collected.

In embodiments, T-commerce applications and brand channel applicationsmay interact with CPEs and CPE clients. As illustrated in FIG. 29, achannel application 1106 may send requests to CPE clients 108 via aremote browser 112. Such a request may include a shipping address andmay cause a CPE client 108 to open a native browser 2902 on the CPE 106.The native browser may access a payment gateway 2904. A brand channel116 server may redirect user's payment-related input (such as a click tosend payment) to a T-commerce channel application 1107 (rather than abrand channel application 1108). Users may input payment information tothe CPE 106 and CPE client 108 through various means, such as the use ofa remote device 104 or a mobile computing device 1104. Communicationsbetween components may be managed by computer code. Such code may beJavaScript or code written in another computer language.

In embodiments, transaction data may flow between system components in anumber of ways. An example of one possible data flow scenario isillustrated in FIG. 30. In this scenario, a brand channel 116 server mayassign content and product identification information to content, suchas images, text, audio files, and video files, and may transmit thatinformation to channel applications 1106, which may include theT-Commerce channel application 1107, one or more brand channelapplications 1108, and the like. The channel applications may storeattributes of products and associated content indicated by the productidentification information on the cache server 1110. These transfers maybe accomplished through the use of computer code, which may beJavaScript or code written in another programming language. A remotebrowser 112 may retrieve such product attribute data and content fromthe cache server 1110. A mobile asset repository 1112 may synchronizecontent with the cache server and with one or more mobile computingdevices 1104, as appropriate based on content and product identificationinformation. Such synchronization may take place using versionmanagement.

In embodiments, there may be a brand channel application that performsoperations in the delivery of brand channel functionality. Theseoperations may include (1) analytics; (2) running operationalalgorithms, such as algorithms that decide the order in which to list ordisplay brand related elements, possibly including content information,product information, and the like; and (3) other operations that may beuseful. Such operations may make use of data. Such data may include oneor more of the following: (1) content identification, such as spaceattributes (e.g. favorite, wish list, shopping cart), content attributes(e.g. image format identification), and content location (e.g. URL ofthe content); (2) product identification, such as product attributeslike the product's name, color, material, style, category, and size; and(3) metadata, such as user identifiers, the MAC address of the sendingdevice, and demographic tags. As transfers take place, information onsuch transfers may be stored in an event log. Such an event log mayinclude (a) where the input took place, including any object that wasclicked or menu item that was selected; (b) the content that wasselected or clicked, if applicable; (c) what actions prompted the input;(d) the route followed by the input on its path from the input device tothe analytics facility; and (e) a log of the time of each event.

In embodiments, resources may be made available to companies seeking todevelop brand channels. Such resources may include one or more of thefollowing: (1) a channel application design specification, which mayinclude a channel application JavaScript API, a channel applicationstyle sheet, and a development kit with a fully-functional sampleapplication, possibly including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, media files,JavaScript Object Notation (“JSON”) files, XML data files, and the like;(2) a T-Commerce brand application deployment and hosting service, whichmay include an update mechanism for determining how the brand channelapplication under development is to be registered and rendered by theT-Commerce application; (3) an asset cache to which brands mayperiodically upload new assets, including media files, associatedmetadata, and the like; and (4) other resources, as needed.

In embodiments, implementation of brand channel functionality mayrequire use of a number of technical components. As illustrated in FIG.31, in an example involving two brand channels, Brand N channel andBrand 1 channel, these components may include one or more of thefollowing: a CPE client 108, a CPE 106, a remote browser 112, a web kit3102, a channel application repository 3104, a T-Commerce server 2404, achannel assets repository 3108, Brand N back-end services 3110, andBrand 1 back-end services 3112. In these embodiments, a user 102 mayinteract with the CPE 106 running the CPE client 108. The CPE 106 andCPE client 108 may communicate with the remote browser 112, which may berunning the web kit 3012. The web kit 3102 may include a Brand N channelapplication, a Brand 1 channel application, and a T-Commerce channelapplication. The remote browser 112 may communicate with the T-Commerceapplication server 2404, which may also communicate with the channelapplication repository 3104 and the channel assets repository 3108. Thechannel application repository 3104 may contain the Brand N channelapplication, the Brand 1 channel application, and the T-Commerce channelapplication. The channel assets repository 3108 may contain Brand Nchannel assets, Brand 1 channel assets, and T-Commerce channel assets.The Brand N back-end services 3110 may include a copy of the Brand Nchannel assets, which it may use to update the Brand N channel assetscontained in the channel assets repository 3108. Similarly, the Brand 1back-end services 3112 may include a copy of the Brand 1 channel assets,which it may use to update the Brand 1 channel assets contained in thechannel assets repository 3108. In these embodiments, a user 102 maybrowse various brands by interacting with the CPE, thereby accessing thecopy of the T-Commerce Channel application contained in the web kit 3102running on the remote browser 112. When the user 102 clicks on orotherwise selects a brand channel, the remote browser 112 launches thecopy of the channel application for that brand channel contained in theweb kit 3102. Once launched, the brand channel application loads itsmedia assets from the channel assets repository 3108, which it accessesthrough the T-Commerce server 2404. The brand assets in the channelasset repository may be updated periodically by the Brands. Brands mayupdate their brand assets by uploading new brand assets to theappropriate brand back-end services component (in this case, eitherBrand N back-end services 3110 or Brand 1 back-end services 3112). Inthese embodiments, channel applications may be web applicationscomprising of HTML5 and JavaScript or they may consist of code from oneor more other programming languages. External communication may behandled through a functional interface to a library that includesappropriate communication software. Such external communications mayinclude one or more of the following: (1) loading channel assets fromthe channel asset repository; (2) create, read, update, and delete(“CRUD”) operations pertaining to certain T-Commerce features, possiblyincluding wish list functions, shopping cart management,picture-in-picture controls, and the like; (3) access to brand back-endservices, which may enable performance of brand-specific CRUDoperations; (4) session and history persistence; and (5) othercommunications, as needed.

In embodiments, the brand channels may be implemented using any numberof programming languages and technologies. For example, a channelapplication could make use of (1) an HTML5/JavaScript foundation; (2) asingle-page application, possibly using client-side DHTML via JQueryorchestration; (3) use of JQuery hash tags for state and historysupport; (4) client-side model-view-controller (“MVC”) user interfacesoftware; and (5) external data connectivity through a JavaScript APIcontained within the channel application. This example is illustrated inFIG. 32. In FIG. 32, a CPE 106 is running a CPE client 108 thatcommunicates using a channel application JavaScript API that is part ofa web kit 3102 running on a remote browser 112. The channel applicationJavaScript API also manages communication with a T-Commerce REST(representational state transfer) API running on a T-Commerceapplication server 3202, which also includes T-Commerce support. TheT-Commerce application server 3202 receives channel assets from achannel asset repository 3206. The T-Commerce REST API communicates witha brand REST/SOAP (simple object access protocol) service running onbrand back-end services 3204.

Network Management

In embodiments, the T-Commerce system may include a network managementfeature. Such a network management feature may facilitate monitoring andmanagement of other elements of the disclosure by administrators, usersupport teams, and the like. These elements may include the resourcemanagement and scalability of one or more remote browser server farms, aT-Commerce portal 115, back-end systems, the content of user databases,brand assets, and the like.

In embodiments, the network management feature may facilitate deploymentand usage flexibility. For example, this feature may make use of modularlogical or virtual systems that may be included within a single physicalsystem. The feature may also facilitate the organization and tracking ofsuch systems, which might otherwise prove difficult, particularly whenphysical servers are scaled to accommodate multiple virtual servers,which may operate invisibly.

In embodiments, the network management feature may make use of cloudmanagement platforms, which may provide for the management of public,private and hybrid cloud environments, and the like. Such cloudmanagement platforms may incorporate one or more of the followingelements: (1) self-service interfaces, (2) provision system images, (3)metering and billing functionality, (4) algorithms that facilitateworkload optimization, (5) integration with external enterprisemanagement systems, (6) inclusion of service catalogs, (7) support forthe configuration of storage and network resources, and (8) resourcemanagement tools designed to facilitate system performance andavailability, through such means as the use of service governors,advanced monitoring techniques, and the like.

In embodiments, the network management feature may have thecharacteristic of rapid elasticity, which may facilitate the systemsrapid scalability to accommodate demand. Such rapid elasticity mayinclude the ability to monitor, control, report, meter and the like useof such resources as CPU, RAM, storage, network bandwidth, and the like.

In embodiments, the network management feature may have thecharacteristic of broad network access, which may facilitate access tothe system over a network through a plurality of thin and thick clientplatforms such as mobile devices, laptop computer, desktop computers,and the like.

In embodiments, the network management feature may include on-demandresource provisioning functionality, which may facilitate quick accessto computing resources such as number of CPU cores, RAM size, and thelike.

In embodiments, the network management feature may includeresource-pooling functionality, which may facilitate the delivery oflocation services. This functionality may be particularly helpful incases where a user has no knowledge about the underlying infrastructureand may include the inputting and processing of location preferencesregarding where the virtual machine may run, such as country, state,data center, and the like.

In embodiments, the network management feature may be designed tofunction in one or more of the following environments: (1) a publiccloud model in which the cloud infrastructure is provided by a cloudservice provider for multiple users who may lease the infrastructureprovided and pay for the resources they utilize; (2) a private cloudmodel in which the cloud infrastructure is provided by a singleorganization and may be used for that organization's various businessunits and in which the infrastructure may be located on or off theorganization's premises and may be maintained by the organization and/orby one or more third parties; (3) a community cloud model in which thecloud infrastructure is shared by multiple users who may have similarrequirements such as security policies, bandwidth usage, storage needs,and the like and in which the cloud environment may be managed by one ormore third parties; (4) a hybrid cloud model in which the cloudinfrastructure extends or enhances the functionality of a private cloudto combine local resources with those of the public cloud; and (5)another environment in which its functionality may be accessed and used.

In embodiments, the network management feature may facilitatecommunication between physical machines. Such communication may make useof such technologies as DNS and DHCP, where DNS performs name resolutionand DHCP assigns IP addresses to the physical machines, and the like.

In embodiments, the network management feature may make use ofadditional components, such as Linux bridge-utilities or other utilitiescapable of creating virtual bridges within physical machines and whichmay designate a unique MAC address for each virtual machine, as well asother components.

In embodiments, the network management feature may make use of virtualnetworking, which is defined for purposes of this section to be theprocess of assigning IP and MAC addresses to virtual machines. Virtualnetworking may be useful for facilitating or enabling communicationbetween virtual machines.

In embodiments, the technical architecture of the network managementfeature may make use of a wide variety of technologies and otherelements such as open-source computer monitoring technology, technologydesigned to monitor and to provide alerts regarding servers, switches,applications, and related services (e.g. products offered by suchcompanies as Nagios), and the like. Such technology and elements may beopen source or proprietary or be subject to other forms of intellectualproperty restriction or may be in the public domain. Such technicalarchitectures may be designed to be self-monitoring, such that they mayalert users when problems are detected and again when those problems areaddressed.

Analytics System

In embodiments, the T-Commerce system may include an analytics facility.Such an analytics facility may provide integrated data collection,processing, analysis functions, and the like, and may serve to linkvarious systems of the disclosure. Such an analytics facility may offera number of benefits, including facilitation of one or more of thefollowing: (1) identifying competitive advantages; (2) capitalizing onmarket opportunities; (3) identification of problems, possibly includingearly identification of problems; (4) reengineering of businessprocesses, products, and services to optimize performance, usersatisfaction, user loyalty, and the like; (5) improving decision-makingprocesses; (6) analyzing trends to anticipate market needs; (7)maximizing customer retention; (8) generating correlation and causationdata that may be valuable to advertisers and third parties; and (9)facilitating, enabling, or otherwise improving other business processes,activities, and the like. For example, an analytics facility may be usedto answer questions such as: What is the breakdown of sales by category,brand, SKU, and other identifiers and what does this breakdown means forfuture marketing and operations?; How are various products performing?;Which pages are most frequently visited and which links are mostfrequently clicked?; What are the conversion rates for various brands,products, product categories, etc.?; How do customer demographicscorrelate to purchasing behavior?; What are the trends in product,category, and brand performance?; Which products should be displayed ona given page to optimize sales and return in investment?; and the like.

In embodiments, the analytics facility may be focused on identifyingopportunities to improve business results and may perform one or more ofthe following functions: (1) gathering data from other systems of thedisclosure, including such data as device sales, T-Commerce sales,revenue by source, costs, profits, user TV viewing habits, clickbehavior, membership activity, payment methods, account personalization,transaction characteristics, application images, and the like; (2)linking new data and infrastructure elements with existing structures,such as to use existing resources to the extent feasible when creatingnew data fields and structures; (3) incorporating data from brandchannels into analytic processes; (4) offering real-time performance andfunctionality; (5) integrating with metadata services to supportanalytics facility functionality; (6) integrating with a membershipservice facility, possibly through use of an analytic dashboard, suchthat relevant data, such as user ID, password information, and the like,may be communicated as needed; (7) identifying patterns of behavioramong users such as identifying similar clicking and purchasingpropensities among clusters of users, and the like; (8) parsing largeamounts of data collected through one or more online storefronts such asthe T-Commerce channel 110, the plurality of brand channels 116, and thelike to identify and utilize meaningful data; (9) interacting with otherelements of the disclosure as necessary to optimize its performance,including such elements as data files, servers, and the like; and (10)facilitating other processes.

In embodiments, the analytics facility may provide for tracking andanalysis of user behavior within individual brand channels, within brandchannel categories, across the entire aggregate of T-commerce channelofferings, across conventional television channels (e.g. networkchannels, cable TV channels, on-demand programming), with digitalstreaming services (e.g., NetFlix, Amazon), browsing and searchingthrough the T-commerce system and through general web searching, and thelike. Through this tracking and analysis the T-commerce system may beable to provide not only brand-specific data and analysis to brands,interested in user behavior related to access and purchases within aparticular brand, but also how users behave across all the mediumsavailable through the T-commerce system and associated television,streaming video watching, and web browsing environments. Through thisdata a picture of how users are interacting throughout the medium mayenable greater accuracy in the targeting of advertisements to users.However, given the potential for dynamic and customizable visual displayof information to users through the T-commerce system, this analyticsinformation may also enable intelligent optimization of the visualpresentation of information (e.g., brand and product presentation,categorization, filtering) to users based on the user currently viewingthe television (such as through a passcode linking a user with theirprofile). For example, a user may show through behavior (as well asstating more explicitly in their profile) preferences for brands,channels, shows, products, and the like, such that the T-commercechannel (if enabled by the user) creates a custom user interface forthat user that reflects the user's past behavior. In this way there is atwo-fold benefit, where the user benefits because they are presentedofferings that more closely align with their preferences, and brandenterprises benefit because the custom user interface may improve thelikelihood that the user will make a purchase. For instance, the customuser interface may present brands in an order or visual presentationthat reflects the user preferences, show seasonal offerings as afunction of where the user lives, provide rewards or promotional offersreflecting the user's behavior, and the like. In embodiments, theT-commerce system may create test custom user interfaces for the user orplurality of like users to test the effectiveness of the custom userinterface for achieving a desired outcome, such as increased purchase bythe user, increased viewing by the user, and the like. In embodiments,this analytics data may be used to show users and brands that ‘users whoviewed this brand or product also viewed this other brand or product’.From the user's perspective, the user is essentially provided with useraggregate behavior recommendations through the linking of a user'sselection with what other user's selected in the context of similarsearches or navigations through the T-commerce system. From the brand'sperspective, they are provided with a view of what other brands andproducts their customer base is interested in, and as a result learnmore about how to sell to existing customers, or to users who have onlyvisited their channel but did not purchase anything. The tracking andanalysis of this type of individual and aggregate user behaviorpotentially improves the T-commerce system experience for both users andfor brands (or any other non-brand entity interested in improving theviewing of their channel).

In embodiments, the analytics facility may generate reports on customerbehavior and needs. Such reports may be useful for customer retention,cross-selling, up-selling, creating targeted, personalizedadvertisements and promotions, and the like.

In embodiments, the analytics facility may use a plurality of strategiesfor the purpose of integrating information used by the business fromvarious sources and for other related purposes, such strategies possiblyincluding one or more of the following: (1) defining a comprehensiveinformation access services program that may be aligned with businessstrategies and goals and may take advantage of holistic and agilesolutions that go beyond relational query and reporting tools, suchsolutions being designed to provide timely information on such things asuser behavior and needs, business opportunities, data trends, and thelike; (2) building a unified reporting platform that may be accessedthroughout an organization and that may be designed to providerelatively seamless access to information; (3) implementing a live,interactive reporting environment where users may quickly locate andanalyze the information they need; (4) providing users with the abilityto aggregate structured data from relational databases quickly andeasily and to integrate those structured data with unstructured datafrom a variety of sources; and (5) providing other data-relatedservices.

In embodiments, the analytics facility may include an analytics userinterface that has one or more of the following characteristics: (1) itmay enable users to access information, to build report and querycriteria, to run reports and queries, to save search and query criteriafor future use, and to save and to export search results, query,results, reports, and other data compiled in a wide range of formats, atleast some of which formats are compatible with other database andanalytics facilities; (2) it may include interactive graphicalcapabilities, such as the ability to generate and to manipulate charts,tables (including pivot tables) and other visual elements, such thatmanipulation of these elements may be used to alter query and displaycriteria to generate new results through live interactions; (3) it maybe designed for extensive scalability, including sufficient processingpower, graphics manipulation capabilities, memory, storage capacity,network ports, and other infrastructure to access and process data fromlarge numbers of sources simultaneously and to generate complex reportsand graphic displays integrating and analyzing data from large numbersof sources quickly; (4) it may include true ad hoc reporting andanalysis capabilities that enable users to develop and to implementstatistical models for analyzing business questions as they arise; (5)it may be accessible through an interactive analytic dashboard, possiblyan online analytical processing (“OLAP”) dashboard, such that users maymake use of their capabilities without learning complex instructionsets, computing code, or other technical material; and (6) it may haveother characteristics designed to facilitate communication with users,processing efficiency, operational speed, clarity of communication, andthe like.

In embodiments, the analytics facility may provide users with a trendanalysis and reporting module that has one or more of the followingcharacteristics: (1) inclusion of an integrated suite of analyticaltools designed to facilitate the development of business insight and toenable multi-channel access to a relevant, actionable intelligence, suchtools possibly including Micro Strategy, Oracle Enterprise Edition,Business Objects, and Pentaho; (2) sophisticated trend-analysis softwarethat may facilitate user efforts to gain insights into historical andemerging trends, to understand user behaviors, and to make predictionsabout likely future events and outcomes; (3) algorithms to determinewhen a given user may benefit from particular information that may beset to alert the user to such information or to suggest that the usergenerate a particular report or run a particular query that may betimely, such algorithms possibly running in the background and detectingchanges in data that may indicate sufficiently changed circumstances tobe relevant to that user; (4) artificial intelligence enabled to developsuggestions and to build multi-step processes, which may include suchsteps as alerting users to suggested actions, implementing processes asprompted by users, and the like, where such development of processes,suggestions, and related processing may take place in real time based oninteractions with users and analysis of data or may take place in adifferent time frame; (5) drag-and-drop dashboard creation functionalitythat may allow users to build functional dashboard elements that may bebuilt and integrated into the analytic dashboard without requiring anytechnical expertise, programming ability or the part of the user orassistance from information technology specialists or others; and (6)other functions, features, components, and the like that may be helpfulin performing its functions.

In embodiments illustrated in FIG. 33, there may be an analyticsfacility 122, which may be referred to as a business intelligenceportal. The analytics facility 122 may include a data structure with anumber of elements. These elements may be separated into three subjectareas: sales 3302, marketing 3303, and operations 3326.

In embodiments, the sales 3302 area may include (1) a T-Commerce salesinsight 3304 dashboard and (2) a T-Commerce sales 3306 element. Thesales insight 3304 dashboard may have a bi-directional connection to theT-Commerce sales 3306 element, enabling it to gather sales data from theT-Commerce sales 3306 element and to send queries and processed data tothe T-Commerce sales 3306 element.

In embodiments, the marketing 3303 area may include (1) a T-Commercedemographics insight 3308 dashboard; (2) a demographics 3310 element;(3) a customer behavior insight 3312 dashboard; (4) a customer behavior:active household 3314 element; (5) a customer behavior: events, hits,time 3316 element; (6) a customer behavior: purchase 3318 element; (7) acorrelation 3320 element; (8) a brand value proposition insight 3322dashboard; and (9) a brand value proposition 3324 element. TheT-commerce demographics insight 3308 dashboard may have a bi-directionalconnection with the demographics 3310 element, enabling it to gatherdata from the demographics 3310 element and to send queries andprocessed data to the demographics 3310 element. The customer behaviorinsight 3312 dashboard may have bi-directional connections with each ofthe following elements: (a) the customer behavior: active householdelement 3314; (b) the customer behavior: events, hits, time 3316element; (c) the customer behavior: purchase 3318 element; and (d) thecorrelation 3320 element. These bi-directional connections may enablethe customer behavior insight 3312 dashboard to communicate with all ofthese elements simultaneously, receiving data from them and sendingqueries and processed data to them. The brand value proposition insight3322 dashboard may have a bi-directional connection with the brand valueproposition 3324 element, enabling the brand value proposition insight3322 dashboard to receive data from the brand value proposition 3324element and to send queries and processed data to the brand valueproposition 3324 element. Each of these elements may include a page andcorresponding back-end code for serving text, images, sound, video, andother assets, as well as code for processing and collecting data enteredinto the page, and the like.

In embodiments, the operations 3326 area may include a customersatisfaction insight 3328 dashboard and a customer satisfaction 3330element. The customer satisfaction insight 3328 dashboard may have abi-directional connection with the customer satisfaction 3330 element,enabling it to send queries and processed data to the customersatisfaction 3330 element and to receive data from the customersatisfaction 3330 element.

In embodiments, access to the analytics facility may be based ondesignated user communities, where a given user may be part of multiplecommunities, each community having access to designated analyticsfacility functionality. These user communities may include one or moreof the following: power users, executive users, regular users, casualusers, mobile users, non-analytics users, and the like. The power usercommunity may include the head of T-Commerce, members of the T-Commercedepartment, internal relevant internal team members, and one or moreT-Commerce administrators. The executive user community may be limitedto include only the head of T-Commerce. The regular user community mayinclude of the same members as the power user community or it may alsoinclude additional internal users. The regular user community may alsoinclude external contractors or other external users whoseresponsibilities require frequent access to the analytics facility.Mobile users may include the head of T-Commerce, members of theT-Commerce department, and one or more T-Commerce administrators.Non-analytics users may include users whose only need for access to theanalytics facility is to gather data needed for brand marketing. Accessto reports may be limited depending upon a user's user community. Forexample, access to dashboards, standard reporting, and plug-ins may belimited to power users, while access to ad-hoc queries and reporting andto mobile analytics may also be available to non-analytics users.

In embodiments, users may be assigned login credentials that are codedto their user communities, such that a given user's access to designatedfunctionality may be limited based on that user's user community. Accessto the analytics facility may be restricted to users who have logged in.The login process may be integrated with other systems of thedisclosure, such that logging in to one system automatically logs a userinto other systems.

In embodiments, the analytics facility may be accessed through mobilecomputing devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Mobileaccess may incorporate additional technologies, such as SMS, MMS, pushnotifications to provide users with timely communications, and the like.Such mobile access may include the communication of excerptedinformation from reports generated by the analytics facility.

In embodiments, the analytics facility may be designed to comply with aset of business requirements. As illustrated in FIG. 33, these businessrequirements may include one or more of the following: (1) an analyticsfacility 122 may process data relating to a number of subject areas,which may include sales 3302, marketing 3303, and operations 3326; (2)each subject area may have its own dashboards; and (3) each subject areadashboard may have pages a number of custom pages special to its subjectarea. In these embodiments, there may be a sales area 3302 that isdesigned to provide the management of the sales department withinformation relating to sales, expenses, and profits. In theseembodiments, there may be a marketing area 3303 designed to providemembers of the marketing department with useful and relevantinformation. In these embodiments, there may be an operations area 3326designed to provide customer satisfaction-related information torelevant managers. Subject area dashboards may include a T-Commercesales insight 3304 dashboard that may provide data and analysis relatingto T-Commerce sales, a T-Commerce demographics insight 3308 dashboardthat may provide data and analysis relating to T-Commerce customerdemographics, a customer behavior insight 3312 dashboard that mayprovide data and analysis relating to T-Commerce customer behavior, abrand value proposition 3322 dashboard that may provide data andanalysis relating to the value of the various brands being sold throughT-Commerce, and a customer satisfaction insight 3328 dashboard that mayprovide data and analysis relating to customers' satisfaction with theirT-Commerce experiences. In these embodiments, each dashboard may have anumber of pages and corresponding code, which together constituteelements that are connected to the dashboard. Such elements may includeany number of elements, including: T-Commerce sales 3306; demographics3310; customer behavior: active household 3314; customer behavior:events, hits, time 3316; customer behavior: purchase 3318; correlation3320; brand value proposition 3324; and customer satisfaction 3330.

In embodiments, the T-Commerce channel application may be enabled toaccess a number of pre-made queries. Access to such pre-made queries maybe limited based on a user's user community. Such pre-made queries maybe OLAP queries. Such pre-made queries may include queries designed toseek one or more of the following kinds of data: (1) businessperformance numbers, such as sales, revenue, profit, growth rate,achievement of goals, and click behavior; (2) customer satisfaction,including status and difficulty of customer complaint; (3) improvementmetrics; (4) subject area-specific data; and (5) other data. Eachsubject area, including those illustrated in FIG. 33, may have its ownpre-made queries. For example, the T-Commerce sales insight 3304dashboard may have pre-made queries for such data as (a) general sales,such as sales revenue, growth rate by brand, growth rate by producttype, growth rate by SKU, (b) device sales, such as sales of smart TVs,Blu-Ray disc players, set-top boxes, projectors, monitors, and upgradeboxes, which may use proprietary operating system software designed tofunction in accordance with the disclosure; (c) rates of achievement oftargets, such as sales targets, revenue targets, and marketing channeltargets; (d) sales-related expense reports, such as breakdowns by SKU,by brand, by marketing channel, by performance, by revenue generated,and by category of expense; (e) return on investment information; (f)customer interaction data, such as click-through and purchase rates forvarious page elements (e.g. banner advertisements, linked text, andpop-up advertisements); and the like. Similarly, the T-Commercedemographics insight 3308 dashboard may have queries for (g) demographicinformation, such as rates of hits, purchases, return visits, and repeatpurchases, such information possibly being broken down by region, bygender, by age, and by other criteria. The customer behavior insight3312 dashboard may have queries for (h) data on active households, suchas households who viewed IBC, households who viewed each brand,subscription households, potentially-connected households, returninghouseholds, households that have made multiple purchases, and number ofactive users in a household; (i) customer behavior, such as hits perhousehold, hits in IBC, hits by period, hits by day, hits by week, hitsby month, hits per year, average time per session, average time on IBC,average time by brand, average time per session when returning to apage, conversion rates, purchases by time period, seasonal differencesin customer behavior, time of day of purchases, and payment types; and(j) correlations between shop elements and purchase behavior, such asdifferences among SKUs, brands and advertisements, as well ascomparisons of performance between a brand generally and a given SKU andbetween an SKU generally and a particular advertisement for that SKU.The brand value proposition insight 3322 dashboard may have queries for(k) data useful in valuing brands, such as marketing value, dataanalytics value, brand commerce value, and the like. The customersatisfaction insight 3328 dashboard may have queries for (1) customersatisfaction-related data, such as SKU turnover data, promotion data,customer complaint-related data, and the like, where such queries mayinclude variations whereby they may search by brand, by SKU, or by othercriteria.

In embodiments, the analytics facility 122 may make be connected to anumber of system components. As illustrated in FIG. 34, these systemcomponents may include one or more of the following: (1) a brand channel116 server; (2) channel applications 1106, which may include (a) aT-commerce channel application 1107 and (b) a brand channel application1108; (3) a cache server 1110; (4) any number of CPEs 106; (5) a remotedevice controller unit 104; (6) a remote browser 112; and (7) any numberof mobile computing devices 1104. Contents of channel applications 1106may be stored on the cache server 1110. Such contents may include mediafiles, event logs, product attributes, and other data. Such transfersinclude processing users' events through channel applications 1106,matching user events with content and product identification codes. Suchchannel applications 1106 may include a T-Commerce channel application1107, one or more brand channel applications 1108, and the like. Datamay be transferred from the cache server 1110 to the analytics facility122. This transfer of data may be effectuated using JavaScript or codefrom another programming language or by other means. As illustrated inFIG. 34, a remote browser 112 may rapidly retrieve the contents ofchannel applications 1106 from the cache server 1110. The brand channel116 server may assign content and product identification information tocontents, such as images, text, audio files, and video files. Theanalytics facility 122 may gather data from the cache server 1110 andother system components and may process and package those data, makingthem valuable for business intelligence. Information gathered by CPE 106may be combined with other system data, including user data andinformation derived from user interactions. CPE 106 and paired remotedevices 104 may facilitate enhancement of viewer experience by providingdata for analytics that, in turn, may be used to customize content beingserved to customers.

In embodiments, data acquired by the analytics facility 122 from theother system components may include one or more of the following: (1)content identification, such as space attributes (e.g. favorite, wishlist, shopping cart), content attributes (e.g. image formatidentification), and content location (e.g. URL of the content); (2)product identification, such as product attributes like the product'sname, color, material, style, category, and size; (3) metadata, such asuser identifiers, the MAC address of the sending device, and demographictags; and (4) other relevant data As transfers take place, informationon such transfers may be stored in an event log. Such an event log mayinclude (a) where the input took place, including any object that wasclicked or menu item that was selected; (b) the content that wasselected or clicked, if applicable; (c) what actions prompted the input;(d) the route followed by the input on its path from the input device tothe analytics facility; (e) a log of the time of each event; and (f)other information about the event.

In embodiments, the analytics facility may be enabled to generateautomatic content recognition (“ACR”) advertising. Such ACR advertisingmay involve checking viewer preferences for products, ad types, andother viewer characteristics, such as click-time variation, clickaccumulation, demographics, and variation of exposure per regionallocation. ACR advertising may involve one or more of the followingcomponents: (1) data required to serve the advertisement, such as theidentification number of the advertisement, the URL of theadvertisement's content (i.e. the location of the source of the contentto be displayed in the dialog box), and the URL of the target page, suchas an address within a channel application; (2) data required by theanalytics facility, such as the product information of the product orproducts being advertised, including product category, and identifyingmetadata, such as the MAC address of the device viewing theadvertisement and demographic tags; (3) associated information to bestored in the event log, as discussed above; and (4) other data.

In embodiments, the analytics facility may be enabled to generate banneradvertising. Such banner advertising may involve checking viewerpreferences for products, ad types, and other viewer characteristics,such as click-time variation, click accumulation, demographics, andvariation of exposure per regional location. Banner advertising may alsoinvolve one or more of the following components: (1) data required toserve the advertisement, such as the identification number of theadvertisement, the URL of the advertisement's content (i.e. the locationof the source of the content to be displayed in the banner), and the URLof the target page, such as an address within a channel application; (2)data required by the analytics facility, such as the product informationof the product or products being advertised, including product category,and identifying metadata, such as the MAC address of the device viewingthe advertisement and demographic tags; (3) associated information to bestored in the event log, as discussed above; and (4) other data.

In embodiments, the analytics facility may be enabled to generatepromotional messages and content for mobile devices. Such promotionalmessages and content may involve checking the device carrier's activity,past responses to promotional messages, preferences for products, adtypes, and other viewer characteristics, such as demographics.Generating promotional messages and content for mobile devices may alsoinvolve one or more of the following components: (1) informationnecessary to produce the message and content to be displayed, such asthe identification number of the image or content of the message, thename of the application being used to display the message, (e.g. textmessaging application, web browser, email client, or other application),the URL of the mobile content (i.e. the location of the source of thecontent to be displayed on the mobile device) and sufficient informationto identify the mobile device on which the information is to bedisplayed (e.g. an email address, a mobile phone number, an IP address,or the like, depending on the form in which the promotional content isto be displayed); (2) data required by the analytics facility, such asthe product information of the product or products being advertised,including product category, and identifying metadata, such as the MACaddress of the device viewing the advertisement and demographic tags;(3) associated information to be stored in the event log, as discussedabove; and (4) other data.

In embodiments, the analytics facility may be enabled to function withlegacy system components and technologies (e.g. business intelligenceportal, business intelligence data, business intelligence infra, and thelike) and new and emerging components and technologies (e.g. wearablecomputers, implantable computers, etc.) not specifically referencedherein.

In embodiments, the analytics facility may incorporate businessintelligence engines. As illustrated in FIG. 35, such businessintelligence engines may involve a number of layers of varying degreesof abstraction. Starting at the bottom of FIG. 35 with sourceapplications and data 3502, the business intelligence engine may refineinformation each time it passes the information up a layer with theeventual result that when the information reaches the businessintelligence applications 3508, it is valuable for use in makingbusiness decisions. In these embodiments, the first refinement step maytake place as transactional data are processed and transmitted to theenterprise data warehouse system 3504. This first refinement step mayinvolve integrating data from multiple sources and cleaning andcross-linking those data, which process may produce enterprise data. Thesecond level of refinement may take place when data are processed andtransmitted to the information modeling and delivery 3506 layer, duringwhich process business modeling may be implemented. This secondprocessing step may involve enriching data from the enterprise datawarehouse system 3504 and reformatting those enriched data, so that theymay readily be used in business operations and decision-making. The datawarehouse system may make use of staging tables, which may be used toprepare data for subsequent manipulations and to facilitate thosemanipulations. This stage may involve one or more of the followingoperations: (1) developing and organizing data hierarchies so as toenable automatic drill-down from one level of data to the next (e.g.from processed data to the source data from which the processed data wasderived); (2) calculating measures on a consistent scale based on basemeasures, such that data may be aggregated meaningfully at varioushierarchical levels; (3) including a business-friendly presentationlayer that enables users to carry out self-service reporting withoutworrying about the underling complexities of the data model; and (4)applying data visibility rules and user role definitions. The result ofthis second processing step may be to produce data useful in businessmodels. The third refinement step may involve processing andtransmitting business model data to the business intelligenceapplications 3508, which may produce reports and dashboard analytics. Aspart of this third processing step, business applications may be builton top of the enriched data foundation and may be delivered to variousdevices, as needed.

In embodiments, the enterprise data warehouse system may include one ormore of the following components: (1) a data warehouse database; (2)extract, transform, and load processes; (3) operational systems; (4)external sources; and (5) other components. In these embodiments, thedata warehouse database may be a shared, analytic data structure forstoring tactical or historical information from company-wide operationalsystems into a centralized relational database and may be used forreporting and business intelligence. It may also be considered SingleSource of Truth (“SSOT”), i.e. information contained in data warehousedatabase may be relied upon and reported on for business use. A numberof possible structures are possible for such a database (e.g. a starstructure or a snowflake structure). Such a data warehouse may supportmultiple subject areas and may act as the central source of decisionsupport data across an entire enterprise. There are a number of possibleways to implement such a database, one of which is a traditionalrelational database management system. In these embodiments, theextract, transform, and load processes may involve extracting data fromvarious sources, consolidating and reconciling data, and storing them ina consistent format. Data integration technology may be used to extracttransactional data from internal and external source operationalapplications to build the database. This overall process and itsassociated steps may be referred to as extract, transform and load(“ETL”) and may involve extracting data from source applications,transforming those data to the format needed for the data warehouse, andthen loading those transformed data into the data warehouse. Theseprocesses may incrementally or fully refresh the data warehouse withdata on a regular basis (daily, weekly, monthly etc.). Data may beextracted from various sources, consolidated, reconciled, and stored ina consistent format. In these embodiments, operational systems may besystems that record details of business transactions. Such systems maybe a location where decision support data may be sourced. In theseembodiments, external sources may include any sources from outside theanalytics facility, such as census data, zip code lists, economic data,and any other data that may be useful in refining internal data to makeit more useful.

In embodiments, the analytics facility may produce data and tools usefulin an analytical environment. In these embodiments, an analyticalenvironment is the domain of business users who use analytical tools toquery, report, analyze, mine, visualize, and act on the data in the datawarehouse. Business users analyze against data stored in data martsusing user-friendly query tools. In this context, the analytics facilitymay be designed to provide reporting, data mining algorithms,visualization, and OLAP tools. These tools may be designed to enableusers to view reports as static documents, to filter reports by relevantcriteria (e.g. geography, products), to navigate within reports (e.g.search, drill down, drill across), or to change the view or level ofdetail, if any. Such tools may also generate exception-driven reports,such as dashboards or scorecards that compare performance to projectionsand plans. These tools may also enable users to perform historical,slice-and-dice analysis that answers “what?” and “when?” inquiries usinginformation stored in a data warehouse. For example, a typical querymight be, “What was the total revenue for the eastern region in thethird quarter?” Users may take advantage of pre-built queries andreports or build their own.

In embodiments, the analytics facility may include data mining andpredictive analysis tools. Data mining allows users to performpredictive, multidimensional analysis of hypothetical situations and maybe used for many business purposes, including forecasting, customerprofiling, trend analysis, and fraud detection. These tools may be usedto answer “what if” and “why?” questions, such as, “What would be theeffect on the eastern region of a 15 percent increase in the price ofthe product?” Such tools may involve a variety of statistical analysistechniques in examining current and historical data in order to makepredictions, to evaluate current operations, and the like.

In embodiments, the analytics facility may include OLAP and dimensionmodeling capabilities. Such capabilities may be useful in creating andrunning ad hoc reports that run quickly and efficiently. Bothcapabilities involve the production and use of a data layer that isoptimized for query performance. Such a performance layer may take theform of a de-normalized star schema or of a multidimensional onlineanalytical programming (OLAP) cube. The key ingredient in eitherapproach is to build a specialized data structure that improvesperformance by aggregating information and performing calculations inadvance. Essentially, online analytical processing, or OLAP, is anapproach to quickly answer multi-dimensional analytical queries. Theterm OLAP was created as a slight modification of the traditionaldatabase term OLTP (Online Transaction Processing). Databases configuredfor OLAP use a multidimensional data model, allowing for complexanalytical and ad-hoc queries with a rapid execution time. The output ofan OLAP query is typically displayed in a matrix (or pivot) format. Thedimensions form the rows and columns of the matrix; the measures formthe values. At the core of any OLAP system is the concept of dimensionmodeling (“DM”), a logical design technique used for designing datawarehouses. It is different from entity-relationship modeling (“ER”)typically used in the OLTP environment. DM is a design technique fordatabases intended to support end-user queries in a data warehouse. DMmay or may not involve a relational database. The DM modeling approach,at the logical level, may be used for any physical store, such asmultidimensional database or even flat files. Essentially, DM consistsof quantitative facts called measures that are categorized bydescriptive elements called dimensions, which may be created from a starschema of tables in a physical store, such as a relational database.Facts are typically numeric values that can be aggregated, anddimensions are groups of hierarchies and descriptors that define thefacts. For example, sales amount is a fact; timestamp, product,register#, store#, etc. are elements of dimensions. Dimensional modelsare built by business process area, e.g. store sales, inventory, claims,etc. Because the different business process areas share some but not alldimensions, efficiency in design, operation, and consistency may beachieved using conformed dimensions, i.e. using one copy of the shareddimension across multiple subject areas. Each measure can be thought ofas having a set of labels, or meta-data associated with it. A dimensionis what describes these labels; it provides information about themeasure. A simple example would be a cube that contains a store's salesas a measure, and date/time as a dimension. Each sale has a date/timelabel that describes more about that sale. The star schema is the basicbuilding block used in dimensional modeling. As illustrated in FIG. 36,a star schema consists of one large central table called the fact table,and a number of smaller tables called dimension tables that radiate outfrom the central table. In FIG. 36, four dimension tables (dimensiontable 1 3604, dimension table 23606, dimension table 3 3608, anddimension table 4 3610) are arranged around a single fact table 3602.

In embodiments, multidimensional OLAPs (“MOLAPS”) and relational OLAPS(“ROLAPS”) may be used to optimize ad hoc search query creating andimplementation. A MOLAP is the classic form of OLAP and is sometimesreferred to as just OLAP. A MOLAP stores data in optimizedmulti-dimensional array storage rather than in a relational database. Itrequires the pre-computation and storage of information in the cube.This pre-computation operation may be referred to as processing. ROLAPswork directly with relational databases. A ROLAP's base data and thedimension tables are stored as relational tables and new tables arecreated to hold the aggregated information. In these embodiments, DMconsists of numeric facts called measures that are categorized bydimensions typically created from a star schema of tables in a physicalstore such as a relational database. A star schema is the basic buildingblock used in DM. A star schema consists of one large central tablecalled the fact table, and a number of smaller tables called dimensiontables which radiate out from the central table, as illustrated in FIG.36. Optimizing ad-hoc data query performance may involve the use ofmultidimensional meta-modeling, which may include the followingcharacteristics: (1) dimensions, (2) levels, (3) hierarchies, (4)attributes, (5) cubes, (6) measures, and (7) other characteristics. Asillustrated in FIG. 37, a dimension 3702 may contain multiple anddiverse member hierarchies 3710. A dimension may also contain multiplelevels 3708. Each component has its own set of attributes (e.g. adimension 3702 has dimension attributes 3704, levels 3708 have levelattributes 3706, hierarchies 3710 have hierarchy attributes 3712, and ahierarchical level association 3714 has HLA attributes 3716.) Ahierarchical level association 3714 may be derived from levels andhierarchies. Cubes, on the other hand, are used to store measures andthey are related to the dimensions through the cube dimensionassociation (“CDA”) relationship. The data cube may also be known inOLAP systems as the multidimensional table and may be designed toprovide an intuitive way for data analysts to navigate through variouslevels of summary information. In a data cube, attributes arecategorized into dimension attributes and measure (or fact) attributes.Measure attributes of those records with the same values are combined(mainly summed up) into an aggregate value. Each OLAP type has certainbenefits that may be useful in optimizing ad-hoc query performance,although each OLAP type also has disadvantages. Therefore, ad-hoc queryoptimization may require the use of multiple OLAP types. MOLAPadvantages may include better performance due to specialized indexingand storage optimizations. MOLAPs also need less storage space comparedto ROLAPs because the specialized storage typically includes compressiontechniques. MOLAPs may also have disadvantages. Some MOLAPimplementations are prone to database explosion. Database explosion is aphenomenon causing vast amounts of storage space to be used by MOLAPdatabases when certain common conditions are met—high number ofdimensions, pre-calculated results and sparse multidimensional data. Thetypical mitigation technique for database explosion is not tomaterialize all the possible aggregations, but only the optimal subsetof aggregations based on the desired performance versus storage tradeoff. The need for such mitigation techniques may be a factor indetermining which form of OLAP to use in a given case. ROLAPs aregenerally more scalable than MOLAPs. However, large volumepre-processing is difficult to implement efficiently so it is frequentlyskipped. ROLAP query performance can therefore suffer tremendously.Since ROLAPs rely more on databases to perform calculations, they aremore limited in the specialized functions they can implement.

In embodiments, building business intelligence engines may involve anumber of steps. These steps may include one or more of the following:(1) capacity and infrastructure planning, which may include identifyingand determining sizing requirements of hardware needed to run varioustools and functionality; (2) installation of operating systems andconnecting network components (e.g. the data warehouse database server);(3) installation of business intelligence tools, ETL functionality, andthe business intelligence server environment; (4) configuration of ETLfunctionality and the business intelligence server environment; (5)testing source data and target data warehouse connectivity usingbusiness intelligence and ETL components; (6) identification andconfiguration of security systems and components; and (7) other stepsthat may facilitate the development process, speed up other steps,improve efficiencies, or the like.

Browser Plugin

In embodiments, to allow a CPE client to be activated as an HTMLapplication on certain platforms, the client needs to be delivered as aweb browser plugin. Some client platforms (e.g., a smart TV) allowthird-party applications to be installed, such as local HTML5applications. To allow such applications to use the delivery platform(DP) for the delivery of the user interface, they have to be able to useCPE client. Rather than implementing the client as an HTML5 application,which has inherent limitations, the system may provide a native CPEclient functionality as a plugin to the local browser (e.g., the browseron the client device).

Referring to FIG. 38, an embodiment functional diagram 3800 is presentedshowing a local browser 3802 is shown comprising a third partyapplication package 3804 containing two objects, the CPE client 3806,consisting of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. This CPE client code provides asimple interface to the third party application logic 3808, the thirdparty application logic also consisting of CSS, JavaScript, and HTML andother stored assets such as images, such as required by the application.In embodiments, the architecture supports multiple interaction models,including the third party application starting the CPE client, the CPEclient starting the third party application. The CPE client 3806 theninterfaces with a remote browser client plugin 3812 within the clientdevice firmware 3810.

The third party application logic may invoke the CPE client by settingthe window source URL to the URL of the CPE client (e.g.,remotebrowser.html). As a result, the local browser will load the CPEclient HTML code, which will load the CSS and JavaScript. The CPE clientcode will then make sure that the remote browser client plugin is loadedand started. Referring to FIG. 39, an embodiments sequence diagram 3900illustrates the interaction between the various components, where inthis instance the third-party application 3804 sets a window location tothe local browser 3802, which loads to the CPE client 3806, starting asession in the remote browser client plugin 3812, which sends a sessionsetup request to the delivery platform 3902 (e.g., a smart TV).

While the Remote Browser Client Plugin is executing, it will communicatewith the JavaScript of the CPE Client. This is used for example toperform play-out of video locally, where the cloud application willinvoke perform a local function such as video play-out. The RemoteBrowser Client plugin will examine the URI scheme, and notify theJavaScript code that video play-out is requested, passing the URL of thecontent to be played. The JavaScript will then add a video element,setting the element's source URL to the video source. The browser willthen start playing the video. The Remote Browser client session issuspended during this time. When the user stops the video or presses‘back’, for example, the JavaScript will read the current play positionand pass this back to the Remote Browser Client Plugin. FIG. 40illustrates this embodiment configuration 4000.

The CPE Client may invoke the third party application. In some cases,the third-party application that includes the CPE client also has toexecute some functionality locally. For example, a cloud GUI would showa catalog to allow a user to select certain items to purchase. Then, tocomplete the purchase a local function is executed to handle thefinancial transaction (sometimes required as part of PCI compliance).The cloud application performs a handoff to a local function with theRemote Browser Client Plugin starting the local function by requestingthe CPE client JavaScript to open a new window with the source set tothe HTML starting point that executes the local function. The browserwill execute the local function, downloading the HTML source assets ifrequired. This solution has the advantage of being simple, however no‘function results’ may be passed back to the CPE client to be reportedto the cloud application. Instead the results may be stored in a backend(e.g., transaction) server, from which they are fetched by the cloudapplication. FIG. 41 illustrates this embodiment configuration 4100.This procedure allows loading and executing any content in the localbrowser, including Flash content. Note, however, that the flash contentcannot communicate with the cloud application if suspended. If the thirdparty application logic wants to pass any execution result to the cloudapplication, then it could do so via a backend server that is reachableby the cloud application.

Cookie Authentication

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may maintain remote browsersession cookie information by using the device web kit cookie. When aremote browser is used as a webpage rendering engine in a device, thecookie information entered during the previous remote browser session(e.g. information of the product added to the shopping bag from a webpage) cannot typically be reused. By generating a semi-permanent tokenwhich acknowledges a device from remote browser, then save it in anon-volatile space, this token can be mapped with each URL cookie in theremote browser. When a device is re-booted, or remote browser session isrestarted, the existing cookie that was in use can be kept as it wasprior to re-booting or restarting. FIGS. 42 and 43 provide an embodimentprocess diagram 4200A and 4200B to illustrate this process. This processsequence begins in 4200A in FIG. 42 with the web kit in the device(e.g., the remote browser web client) 4204 requesting an initial cookie(e.g., client ID) from the remote browser (e.g., session manager) 4206,which then certifies the client ID and issues a device token back to theweb kit 4204. This token is then saved in the web kit in the device(e.g., cookie) 4202. The web kit 4204 then requests a session (e.g.,token, remote browser URL, web URL, device IP) from the remote browser4206, which certifies the token. The remote browser 4206 then makes arequest to open a web kit (e.g. token, web URL) from the remote browserweb kit 4208, which then makes an inquiry for a cookie (e.g., token, webURL) from the remote browser (e.g., cookie) 4210, and the cookie isreturned to 4208. The remote browser 4208 then makes a HTTP request(e.g., cookie, web URL) to the web server 4212, which then generates thecookie, sending it back to the remote browser 4210. Note that if thereis no cookie mapped with a token, then the request may proceeded withouta cookie, and the web server then generates a cookie related to this,then inputs this cookie to the remote browse's cookie jar. The webserver 4212 then sends an HTTP response to the remote browser 4208,which renders it, and sends encoding and streaming to the web kit 4204.Continuing with the process 4200B in FIG. 43, the web server 4212requests a deletion of the cookie (e.g., token) from the remote browser4208. The remote browser 4208 provides initialization of the cookie thatis currently in use by the web kit to the remote browser 4210, whichdeletes the cookie.

Streaming Facility

In embodiments, the T-commerce system may provide for a streamingfacility to enhance user engagement, such as by combining varioustechnologies to enable scalability across multiple devices, anddelivering the streaming experience with the lowest latency possible.Technologies utilized may include a web application server (e.g., togenerate the user interface (UI)), stitching server (e.g., to convertthe UI to a HTTP-based streaming format), HLS streaming server (capableof one-to-many applications), and the like. The streaming facility mayprovide enable the system to accelerate dynamic web content, such asutilizing TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) acceleration by attemptingto keep connections open and utilizing the reuse of them. The streamingfacility may provide for web acceleration services designed toaccelerate delivery of a wide variety of web sites ranging frompublishing/advertising to dynamic online commerce and business tobusiness transaction web sites, using browser-level acceleration andbypassing the congestion of the public Internet to improve end-userexperience, reduce site abandonment and increased online transactions,and the like.

A web accelerator is a proxy server that reduces web site access times,which can be self-contained hardware appliance or installable software.Unlike other web acceleration facilities, which may only work with thefirst page, requires hardware deployment, only offers either network orbrowser level optimization, and/or has a client side plug-in component,the streaming facility may optimize entire websites through acombination of browser-level acceleration and dynamic network deliveryplatform that works consistently for every device leading to improvedbusiness metrics. The streaming facility may combine browser-basedacceleration techniques with a global network platform to decrease thetime it takes for users to first engage with content on online andmobile sites. The streaming facility may boost website or applicationperformance multi-fold (e.g. ×2, ×5), helping the system benefit frommore time on site, reduced abandonment rates, increased page views,improved conversion rates, and the like.

The streaming facility may improve the performance of the one-to-onestreaming delivered via the rendering server. The streaming facility mayprovide for web content caching services designed to deliver a widevariety of web sites ranging from publishing/advertising to online mediaand news web sites, bypassing the congestion of the public Internet toimprove end-user experience, reducing site abandonment and increasedonline transactions without requiring costly IT build outs. Thestreaming facility may provide performance optimization and staticcontent offload to support web based applications for fast delivery ofcontent to users in order to increase page views, engagement,transactions and lower abandonment rates, and the like. The system maybenefit from faster page load times, on demand scaling with noadditional infrastructure investments, enhanced user experience, and thelike. The streaming facility may provide a server-side URLauthentication service. It should be noted that the streaming facilityis not a replacement for DRM, and may not be associated with userauthentication in any way. However, the streaming facility may assistcustomers in securing their content from unauthorized viewing. Thestreaming facility may provide a high performance authorization servicethat allows users to secure access to their content in an efficient,flexible and reliable fashion. The system may be token-based to maximizeperformance and avoid unwanted three-way handshakes that are common toother methods of authentication and can lead to sever latency inconnection time.

A script or service may be added to the application server, such as forprocessing URLs before they are given to a user so that the URLs containan encrypted token in the query string. This script may make itsdecisions based on any number of business criteria. Once the decision iscalculated, the script may provide the user a URL with a token in thequery string containing a hash (e.g., cryptographic string) of a sharedsecret, a 8-12 character secret known only to the user and the system,that is the desired object on the CDN. Query string parameters that areincluded in the hash may be used to determine the desired criteria theCDN should use to evaluate the request. This ‘shared secret’ component,may be required to contain only alphanumeric characters. It may behashed, such as using an MD5 algorithm, and passed through the systemvia URI query string to be decrypted and authorized. Hashing may be doneusing PHP or ASP. The system may also use the hash generator to createthe hashed URI query string. The end-time, start-time and length valuesmay also be placed within the URI query string. Without these values therequest for content ma be accepted or denied based on the shared secretwith no discretion for time. However, with the time values included inthe query string there may be additional authorization depending on thetime of the request.

Membership Service

The T-commerce system may provide for a membership service facility,which may comprise responsibilities for user authentication and paymentcard storage. In embodiments, the membership service facility may beapplied to high security items. Other services that may communicate withthe membership service facility may include a user service, a shoppingservice, and the like. The membership facility may manage users, such ascreating a user, editing a user (e.g., changing details of a user),authenticating a user (e.g., returns a time-sensitive authenticationtoken which can be used to retrieve a payment card, such as where thetoken expires after a short time period, such as 15 minutes), and thelike. The membership service facility may manage payment cards. Inembodiments, the management of payment cards may be used by a shoppingservice, and all calls may need to include an authentication token.Abstracted calls may include storing of a payment card, deleting apayment card, retrieving a payment card, and the like, where one usermay have multiple payment cards. Specific payment card information mayneed to be stored (e.g., PAN, name, expiry). The user service may storethe billing address.

The membership service facility may provide for payment card encryption,where the membership service facility may be responsible for userauthentication and card storage, and where there is an opportunity tostore the card information with an encryption key, such as derived inpart with the user's password. This may increase security greatly. Forinstance, if an attacker successfully accesses the database, they stillneed each user's password in order to retrieve the payment cardinformation. Secure communication may be provided, where a RESTinterface may be accessed through a secure HTTPS (TLS) connection.Clients may need to verify the server's certificate. Similarly, usersmay be required to have client side certificates, where the server needsto verify them. User and shopping services may have different clientcertificates to identify them specifically. The membership servicefacility may then restrict which calls can be made by each serviceappropriately. PCI Compliance may be provided, where membership serviceand shopping services may touch payment card information, and so thesemay be the only services that need to be PCI compliant.

Payment Card Encryption

The T-commerce system may provide a payment card encryption facility forimproving security, such as by encrypting payment cards using a keyderived from the user's password. When encrypting the card number, a keymay be generated from the user's password and a unique, random salt. Thesalt is saved but the key is discarded. To decrypt the card number, theuser's password must be obtained to generate the key. This systemincreases security. With a standard industry approach, an attacker canretrieve card numbers in a few different ways. These attack vectorscould be with access to a shopping service the attacker could requestcards one at a time from a membership service. The attack vector couldalso be a full system breach. With access to the payment storage, theattacker could access the full database and application encryption keys.In this worst case scenario the attacker now has access to all creditcard numbers. In the payment card encryption facility the keys are notstored at all. They are simply discarded after use. A piece ofinformation, such as the user's password, which is not saved anywhere,is needed to generate individual keys. Attack vectors are thereforelimited to where the attacker knows or can guess the user's password.

In embodiments, to store the user's password, a user service maygenerate a salt (e.g., 64-bit salt) using a crypto-module and encode itwith hex. This hex is combined with password and hashed (e.g., withSHA-512). The salt and hash are then stored in the database, where thesalt is called the ‘password salt’. When a user is created, a secondsalt (e.g., 64 bit encoded with in hex) is generated and saved to thedatabase. This salt is called the ‘key salt’. When a user successfullyauthenticates, the user service combines the key salt with the passwordand hashes, such as with SHA-512. The hash is then truncated to thelength for a key of an appropriate AES cypher. The resulting key issaved in an in-memory table temporarily. When a user enters a paymentcard, this is passed to the shopping service. The shopping serviceretrieves the key and encrypts the card number with the key beforepassing the card information to the payment storage. When a userpurchases an item, the shopping service requests the card from paymentstorage. It retrieves the key and decrypts the card number. If the keyis unavailable (e.g., it expired and was deleted from the table), theShopping Service cannot encrypt or decrypt the card number. It mustreturn an error and the user will be asked to enter their passcode. Theuser service may not have permission to communicate with paymentstorage, where only the shopping service has the required clientcertificate. In addition, payment storage may encrypt all data as itwould normally in the standard industry approach.

Because the encryption key is never stored permanently and derived fromthe user's password several consequences arise, including the system'sCNS never has the user's payment card number, automatic recurringpayments (subscriptions) are not possible, and the like. Also, if theuser forgets their password and requests a password reset their savedcard numbers can not be decrypted and must be reentered by the user,which may be acceptable along with appropriate messaging. If the userforgets and resets their password, the next time they choose to use asaved card they will be told something similar to: “Because yourpassword was reset, please enter your card number to continue.”

While several attack vectors still exist, these are all limited in scopeas they require the user's password. In essence, the payment cardencryption facility is always at least as secure as the industrystandard and in several ways much more secure. There are vectors thatalso exist in the industry standard approach. For instance, with accessto the shopping service, an attacker could passively listen as cards areused for shopping. They could only obtain the number of cards that areactively used by legitimate users. With access to the user service andshopping service, an attacker could passively listen in the user serviceas active users submit passwords. They could then request credit cardsfor those users from the shopping service. There could also be a fullsystem breach. With full access to the payment storage database, paymentstorage keys, and user service database, an attacker could attempt tobrute force each user's password individually to decrypt the cardnumber.

In embodiments, the payment card encryption facility utilizes SHA-512directly. This is because the crypto library may only offer PBKDF2 withSHA-1 and payment storage requirements may call for SHA-512. Theoreticalattacks exist on SHA-1, which may reduce its strength, such as from 280operations to 260. SHA-512 may be preferable, requiring many moreoperators (e.g., 2256 operations). In practice however most passwordhashes may be cracked in significantly less operations because theaverage user uses weak passwords, allowing an attacker to intelligentlyiterate over a password list. Passwords are expected to be even weakeron the TV where users must enter a password using the TV remote. Asolution is to repeatedly hash many times (>20000), such as is thefoundation of Bcrypt and PBKDF2, or it could be done manually.

Users, Sessions, and Security

The T-commerce system may provide for a user session security facility,such as to deal with fact that the T-Commerce system is provided througha TV, and multiple people frequently use that TV's, sometimes at thesame time. The security model facilitates collaborative use, where eachTV has a list of profiles that have logged in to that TV (or werecreated on that TV).

In embodiments, and in an example of how the session security facilitymay implement the secure collaborative use of a TV, the act of logginginto a new TV may require profile information, such as email address,passcode, and the like. This adds the profile to the list accessible onthe TV. In embodiments, profiles may not be removed from the list on aTV, where a hardware reset may be performed, which erases allapplication information so that the TV is treated as a new TV again.Alternately there may be user profile management facility through whichprofiles may be managed. Switching profiles may not require a passcode,because basic shopping is an unlocked area. By contrast, a locked areais one that requires the user to enter their passcode. After the userhas entered their passcode, they remain in an authorized mode for aperiod of time (e.g., 60 minutes, one day, and the like). WhileAuthorized, the user can access any of their own locked areas (includingcheckout) without reentering their passcode. The authorized mode timeoutmay be a hard timeout maintained by the backend. The frontend may nottake proactive action when it times out. After timeout, if the userattempts an action on an item in a locked area, the action will fail andthe user presented with a passcode gate. An ‘unlocked area’ may includea shopping mode and the like. A ‘locked area’ may include a payment mode(e.g., credit cards, address book, and the like), checkout, savedinformation, and the like. An intermediate ‘conditionally locked area’may be available, such as set in the profile, which may include a‘shopping bag’, wish list, recently viewed list, order history, profilesettings, and the like.

In embodiments, different identifiers (e.g., set in cookies) may betracked by the browser, such as including an identifier for the TV, anidentifier for a session (e.g., particular to the current profile), andthe like. When the user switches profiles they may be given a newsession ID. Because this may be implemented in a cookie, it would beincluded in HTTP calls the browser makes to the different services. Aservice then uses the session ID to lookup the user ID. When the userenters an authorized mode (e.g., by entering their passcode for anactivity), a date stamp may be set in the system, such as in a backendsessions table. Services may check the authorized mode date stamp beforetaking action in a locked area. The frontend may not keep track of thetimeout, and may merely passcode gate if it receives a ‘forbidden’indication from a backend service.

To authenticate a user, such as for payment card access, the frontendmay call a user service with the passcode. The user service checks maycall a membership service, such as with email address, passcode, and thelike. On success, the membership service may issue a temporary token tothe user service, which may store it, such as in a sessions table. Thismay happen every time the user is authenticated regardless of the reasonwhy the user authenticated. This token may need to be used by theshopping service to retrieve a saved payment card. The membershipservice temporary token will expire in a period of time (e.g. 60minutes, and the like). This extra time is to prevent a ‘place orderrequest’ from succeeding in every system except the membership service.Despite this extra time, the shopping service should gracefully handle aforbidden indication, such as from the membership service.

There may be guest accounts allowed on each TV. Many locked areas of aregular account (e.g., payment, wish list) won't exist on a guestaccount. If accessed, the user is prompted to create an account. Theremay also be no interaction with the membership service for a guest. If aguest checks out, they may need to enter the full payment cardinformation. That information is then sent directly to the shoppingservice, which places the order with the brand.

FIGS. 44-46 provide example session sequences 4400A-C for an existingprofile, shopping, and checkout between the local browser 3802, CPEclient 3806, container 4406, user service 4408, shopping service 4410,database 4412, and membership service 4414. FIG. 44 shows a sequence forwhen a user starts the application, where membership service is notqueried, as no sensitive data is needed. FIG. 45 shows a sequence forwhen a user checks out, where the checkout is a locked area, so the usermust authenticate with their passcode. FIG. 46 shows a sequence for whena checkout page displays, and the user interacts with various checkoutscreens including selecting an existing saved payment card, and wherethe user enters the security code for the selected payment card. FIGS.47-48 provide example session sequences 4700A-B for an existing profile,shopping, and checkout between the local browser 3802, CPE client 3806,container 4406, user service 4408, shopping service 4410, and database4412. FIG. 47 shows a sequence for when an application is started on anew TV. FIG. 48 shows sequences for when a guest is shopping, a guest ischecking out, and for when a checkout page displays. In the sequence forcheckout page displays, the user is shown interacting with variouscheckout screens including payment card entry, and where payment cardinformation is held in application memory, such as until the order hasplaced.

Hereinafter, diverse embodiments for sensing (or detecting) user actionsof a user using a T-commerce service through a CPE within a T-commercechannel and for providing a commerce service in accordance with thesensed (or detected) user action will be described in detail.

According to an embodiment, the T-commerce channel may track a pointertrajectory of the user, and, among the diverse commerce services, theT-commerce channel may provide the user with a commerce service that ispreferred by the corresponding user or a personalized commerce servicebased upon the pointer trajectory tracking data of the user.

According to another embodiment, the user may simultaneously use anotherservice while using the T-commerce service through the CPE based upondiverse methods, such as screen division, PIP, and so on. In this case,the T-commerce service may be considered as the main service and may beprovided differently as compared to the other service is differentlyprovided, and, conversely, the other service may be considered as themain service and may be provided differently as compared to theT-commerce service. Meanwhile, as described above, the method of usingthe T-commerce service and another service at the same time may also beused during a process of using the same T-commerce service at the sametime. For example, during the process of using the T-commerce service, apreferred brand channel may be individually provided through PIP orscreen division, and the remaining brand channels may be providedthrough the main screen as described above.

This embodiment will hereinafter be described in more detail withreference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 49 depicts a block diagram showing other embodiments of aT-commerce service system according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 49, the T-commerce service system 4900 may include acommunication module 4910, a storage module 4920, a sensing module 4930,an extraction module 4940, an editing module 4950, and a controller4960. The above-described configuration elements may all belong to aconfiguration of a T-commerce channel.

The communication module 4910 may transmit and receive data from a CPE5000.

The storage module 4920 may store service usage pattern data of a userusing a commerce service.

The sensing module 4930 may sense (or detect) a user action from the CPE5000 of the user using the multimedia commerce service. Herein, thesensing module 4930 may track a pointer trajectory corresponding to theuser action and may separately store the pointer trajectory trackingdata for each user. The T-commerce service system 4900 may identify acorresponding brand identifier and a product identifier from the storedpointer trajectory tracking data. Thereafter, the T-commerce servicesystem 4900 may determine the brand visiting path pattern of thecorresponding user based upon the identified identifiers. And, then, theT-commerce service system 4900 may provide advertisements, and so on,based upon the pointer trajectory tracking data. Additionally, thesensing module 4930 may also sense a user action based upon a signalbeing inputted by a direct touch of the CPE 5000 or a signal beinginputted from a smart phone, a remote device, a mouse, a camera, and amicrophone.

The extraction module 4940 may extract service usage pattern data of theuser in accordance with the user action. Herein, the extraction module4940 may include at least one or more of a comparison unit, a firstextraction unit, a priority-level decision unit, and a second extractionunit. The comparison unit may compare the sensed user action with thestored service usage pattern data of the user. Then, based upon theresult of the comparison process, the first extraction unit may extractthe service usage pattern data of the user, which are identical orsimilar to the user action. The priority-level decision unit may decidepriority levels of the identical or similar service usage pattern data,which are extracted from the first extraction unit, based upon patternsimilarity. And, the second extraction unit may extract service usagepattern data corresponding to the highest priority level among thepriority levels decided by the priority-level decision unit.

The editing module 4950 may edit browser screen configurations of acommerce service, which is to be provided to the CPE, in accordance withthe extracted service usage pattern data of the user. Herein, theextraction module 4940 may decide a contents alignment frame inaccordance with the user's service usage pattern data, may decidealignment positions of contents in accordance with the decided contentsalignment frame, and may provide brand information and the respectiveproduct information corresponding to the decided alignment positions ofthe contents. At this point, the contents may include images, such asphotos, moving picture images, text, audio files, and so on, and thecontents alignment frame may be configured to have a stack structure.

The controller 4960 may control the configuration of the T-commerceservice system, i.e., the overall functions of the communication module4910, the storage module 4920, the sensing module 4930, the extractionmodule 4940, and the editing module 4950, thereby being capable ofcontrolling the overall T-service commerce accordingly. For example, thecontroller 4960 may perform control operations, so that recommendedT-commerce service data can be provided to the CPE 5000 through thebrowser screen, which is edited in accordance with the user's serviceusage pattern data. Herein, when a T-commerce service request isreceived from the user, the controller 4960 may perform controloperations, so that a T-commerce service screen can be configured andtransmitted. The, the controller 4960 may perform control operations, sothat the user action can be sensed from the transmitted T-commerceservice screen, and so that the service usage pattern data of the usercan be stored. Thereafter, reference may be made to the stored serviceusage pattern data later on during a next usage of the T-commerceservice or during a usage of another T-commerce service.

FIG. 50 depicts a block diagram showing a detailed structure of theextraction module shown in FIG. 49.

Referring to FIG. 50, the extraction module 4940 extracts a serviceusage pattern data of the user respective to the user action. Herein, asdescribed in FIG. 50, the extraction module 4940 may include acomparison unit 4942, a first extraction unit 4944, a priority-leveldecision unit 4946, and a second extraction unit 4948, and so on.

The comparison unit 4942 compares the sensed user action with the storedservice usage pattern data of the user. Then, based upon the comparedresult, the first extraction unit 4944 may extract all of the serviceusage pattern data of the user, which are similar to the user action.Herein, a similarity level may be predetermined within the T-commercesystem or may be periodically updated. For example, the identity orsimilarity level may be decided or updated in accordance with the user'saction time or a degree of the user's action.

The priority-level decision unit 4946 decides priority levels of theextracted service usage pattern data based upon a pattern similaritylevel between the extracted service usage pattern data of the user.Herein, the pattern similarity level may refer to a similarity level inthe brand visiting path pattern respective to the action time or degreeof the user's action.

The second extraction 4948 unit may extract service usage pattern dataof the user, which corresponds to the highest priority level among thepriority levels decided by the priority-level decision unit.

FIGS. 51 a to 51 f depict a first embodiment of a browser screen editedfor the T-commerce service, and FIG. 52 depicts a second embodiment of abrowser screen edited for the T-commerce service.

The editing module may edit browser screen configurations of amultimedia commerce service, which is provided to the CPE, in accordancewith the extracted service usage pattern data of the user. Herein, theextraction module may decide a contents alignment frame in accordancewith the user's service usage pattern data, may decide alignmentpositions of contents in accordance with the decided contents alignmentframe, and may provide brand information and the respective productinformation corresponding to the decided alignment positions of thecontents. At this point, the contents may include images, such asphotos, moving picture images, text, audio files, and so on, and thecontents alignment frame may be configured to have a stack structure.

As shown in FIG. 51 a to FIG. 51 f, when the user uses a commerceservice, if the user searches for new arrivals at Burberry, searches fornew arrivals at Tory Burch and, then, searches for new arrivals at Nike,the commerce service system may track and detect the visiting path ofthe user action by the order of Burberry, Tory Burch, and Nike.

Based upon the detected result, the commerce service system may identifythe service usage pattern data of the user, and, then, the commerceservice system may edit the screen configurations of the browser byusing the editing module of the commerce service system, in accordancewith the identified service usage pattern data of the user, so that theuser can conveniently use the commerce service.

Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 51 a to FIG. 51 c, the editing module maydecide a contents alignment frame, so that new arrivals can beintroduced firsthand. Then, the editing module may decide alignmentpositions of the contents corresponding to the decided contentsalignment frame, so that new arrivals of Burberry can be aligned at anupper center section of the browser screen, so that new arrivals of ToryBurch can be aligned at a left side section of Burberry, and so that newarrivals of Nike can be aligned at a right side section of Burberry.Herein, the contents may correspond to moving picture images, photos,text, and so on.

Additionally, after searching for the new arrivals of each brand, whenthe user searches for products related to Tory Burch, products relatedto Nike, products related to Craftsman, and products related to AmericanGirl in the listed order, the system may track and detect the visitingpath of the user action in the order of Tory Burch, Nike, Craftsman, andAmerican Girl.

Based upon the detected result, the system may identify the serviceusage pattern data of the user, and, then, the system may edit thescreen configuration of the browser by using the editing module of thesystem in accordance with the identified service usage pattern data ofthe user, so that the user can conveniently use the commerce service.

Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 51 d to FIG. 51 f, the editing module ofthe system may decide a contents alignment frame configured to introduceproducts by brand. Then, the system may decide alignment positions ofthe contents corresponding to the device contents alignment frame, sothat contents related to Tory Burch products can be aligned at an uppersection of the browser screen, so that contents related to Nike productscan be aligned at a section below the Tory Burch products, so thatcontents related to Craftsman products can be aligned at a section belowthe Nike products, and so that contents related to American Girlproducts can be aligned below the Craftsman products.

In some cases, as shown in FIG. 52, if the service usage pattern data ofthe user is related to a special event product (e.g., a product onsale), in order to allow the user to conveniently use the commerceservice, the editing module of the system may configure the screenconfiguration of the browser, by deciding a contents alignment framepresenting the special event products, and by deciding alignmentpositions of the contents corresponding to the decided contentsalignment frame, so that contents related to Craftsman productscurrently on sale and contents related to special event Hugo Bossproducts can be aligned on the browser screen.

As described above, the commerce service system may estimate serviceusage pattern data of the user in advance based upon the user action,i.e., pointer trajectory data. Thereafter, the commerce service systemmay configure the browser screen so that the user can convenientlyaccess brands frequently visited by the user and specific products,thereby providing distinguished commerce services.

FIGS. 53 to 55 depict a flow chart for describing an embodiment of amethod for processing services in a multimedia commerce service system.

As shown in FIG. 53 to FIG. 55, the commerce service system may store aservice usage pattern data of a user using a multimedia commerce service(S10).

As shown in FIG. 54, when a commerce service request is received fromthe user (S2), the system may configure a commerce service screen from aremote browser in accordance with the received request and may thentransmit the configured commerce service screen to a CPE by using astreaming method (S4). And, when the system senses (or detects) a useraction from the remote browser through the commerce service screen (S6),the system may store the service usage pattern data of the user basedupon the sensed user action. At this point, the stored service usagepattern data of the user may correspond to a visiting path of the useraction may correspond to a brand visiting path, which is based upon aused (or visited) brand identifier, a used (or visited) productidentifier, and so on, by tracking a pointer trajectory of the user.

The commerce service system senses a user action of a user using acommerce service (S20). Herein, the user action may be detected andsensed through diverse paths, such as a touch sensed by the CPE, a touchor pointer movement detected by using a remote device or mobile device,a gesture of the user detected by a camera sensor, a movement of theuser's pupils detected through an eye-tracking sensor, an audio inputsensed by an audio sensor, fingerprint data inputted by usingfingerprints, and so on.

The commerce service system compares a sensed action of the user withpre-stored service usage pattern data (S30). The comparison process maybe performed by using previous service usage pattern data of thecorresponding user or by using service usage pattern data of anotheruser. Meanwhile, the other user refers to a user belonging to anycategory that can be classified, such as age, gender, hobby or field ofinterest, and so on.

The commerce service system may identify/extract service usage patterndata of the user in accordance with the user action and may providerecommended commerce service information based upon the extractedservice usage pattern data of the user (S40). Herein, based upon theresult of the above-described comparison process, all service usagepattern data of the user that are similar to the user action areextracted. Then, after deciding priority levels of the extracted serviceusage pattern data of the user in accordance with pattern similaritylevels, service usage pattern data of the user corresponding to thehighest priority level among the decided priority levels may beextracted. Additionally, as shown in FIG. 55, the process of providingrecommended commerce service information may be performed by deciding acontents alignment frame in accordance with service usage pattern dataof the user (S42), by deciding alignment positions of contents inaccordance with the decided contents alignment frame (S44), and byproviding brand information corresponding to the decided alignmentpositions of the contents and the respective product information (S46).Herein, the contents may include moving picture images, photos, and textcontents, and the content alignment frame may correspond to a stackstructure. However, the present invention will not be limited only tothis.

As described above, in the exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, the T-commerce channel may track a pointer trajectory of theuser, and, then, among diverse commerce services, the T-commerce channelmay most particularly provide a commerce service, which is preferred bythe corresponding user, or which is personalized, based upon suchpointer tracking information of the user.

Meanwhile, although the above-described service usage pattern data mayinclude contents merely related to navigation performed by the userthrough the commerce service, the above-described service usage patterndata may further include purchase information in a wish list. Suchaddition or storage of the wish list, or such purchase information mayhave higher priority in providing personalized commerce service, ascompared to other factors.

Additionally, even if a brand or product is added to the wish list orincluded the purchase list, although the user's level of satisfaction ishigh at the corresponding time point, the user's level of satisfactionregarding the specific brand or product may consistently change at apoint when the user uses the brand or product, which he (or she) hasactually purchased. Therefore, the T-commerce channel may add weight tothe level of satisfaction data respective to the purchased brand and/orproduct, as opposed to other factors, and may then use the processeddata when providing a personalized commerce service in a later process.

By simply using such level of satisfaction, the T-commerce channel mayprovide a commerce service, which is based upon identification data ofthe corresponding user or a related user.

Additionally, the T-commerce channel may collect and update the commerceservice usage pattern data with respect to each specific user and alsowith respect to each user belonging to the same category, each CPE, andeach household and may, then, provide the collected or updated data tothe corresponding user or CPE. Additionally, without being limited onlyto the scope of a single household, the range of such content may alsobe expanded to a range of relatives and friends correlated to thecorresponding household.

Furthermore, a commerce service, which is personalized by using factorscorrelated to address, occupation, current location, off-line stores ofthe related brand or product, may also be provided.

As described above, according to another embodiment, during the processof using the commerce service through the CPE, the user may use anotherservice at the same time. However, in this case, it shall be requestedthat the commerce service is regarded as the main service, and that theother service is differently provided. However, this embodiment may alsobe used during a process of using a same commerce service and notanother type of service.

In the description provided above, the other service may include alltypes of services, such as broadcast services, web services, SNSservices, and so on, that are supportable by the corresponding CPE.However, in the following description, the broadcast service and SNSservice will be given as examples of the other service in order tosimplify the understanding of the present invention.

FIG. 56 depicts an embodiment of a flow chart for describing a method ofprocessing at least one other service with the commerce service, andFIGS. 57 to 59 depict a drawing for describing the method of processingat least one other service with the commerce service according to theexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 56 to FIG. 59, a method for processing a commerceservice in a commerce processor, which communicates with the CPE of theuser will hereinafter be described.

The T-commerce channel receives a request for a first service from theuser (S5610), and the T-commerce channel configures a screen of thefirst service and transmits the screen of the first service through afirst browser (S5620).

Thereafter, the T-commerce channel receives a request for at least onesecond service from the user (S5630), and the T-commerce channelcontrols an output of the second service through a second browser(S5640). In the description presented above, the first service maycorrespond to the commerce service, and the at least one second servicemay correspond to services other than the commerce service, and theservices other than the commerce service may include at least one of abroadcast service, a web service, a gallery service, and an SNS service.

Subsequently, the T-commerce channel senses (or detects) a user action(S5650), and, then, the T-commerce channel controls changes in alocation of the second service, which is being outputted in accordancewith the sensed user action (S5660).

Referring to FIG. 57, the T-commerce channel may recognize an SNSservice, which is being outputted at a level different from that of thecommerce service, and the T-commerce channel may also be capable ofknowing the section in which the SNS service is being outputted.Meanwhile, during the process of using the SNS service, in case a textinput is required, an inputting means, e.g., a virtual keyboard, asshown in FIG. 58, may be outputted at a level different from the sectionof the screen in which the commerce service is being outputted.

In this case, the T-commerce channel may receive pointer tracking dataof the user, thereby being capable of determining whether or not alocation of the pointer, an output location of the SNS service, and anoutput section of a linked service overlap one another by comparing theoutput sections, i.e., the output section of the SNS service, the outputsection of the service linked to the SNS service, and so on.

Based upon the determined result, when it is determined that the outputlocation of the SNS service and the output location of the linkedservice overlap with the location of the point, a control command, whichmay control the output location of at least one of the SNS service andthe linked service based upon the location of the pointer, and which maythen transmit the control command to the CPE.

Meanwhile, the commerce service and at least one service other than thecommerce service are transmitted at the same time. However, the two ormore services may be outputted to sections that do not overlap with oneanother from the beginning. In this case, the T-commerce channel mayreceive a request respective to the output locations of at least oneservice, e.g., an SNS service and a broadcast service, as shown in FIG.59, which are intended to be outputted from the CPE. Thereafter, basedupon the received request, the display supporting service may configuredor (re-configure) a size that is to realize the commerce service througha remote browser via streaming. In this case, however, it is preferablethat a pop-up window, which is linked to a service other than thecommerce service, or a linked service is realized (or outputted) only ina section that does not overlap with the commerce service.

Additionally, at least one of the first browser and the second browsermay correspond to a remote browser, which is equipped in the commerceprocessor. Alternatively, the second browser may correspond to anembedded browser of the CPE.

Meanwhile, in the description presented above, at least one of the firstservice and the second service may be transmitted through the remotebrowser via streaming.

Moreover, an interface that is being provided by the T-commerce channelfor the second service may have its location changed and controlled, sothat the interface does not overlap with the pointer for the firstservice.

FIG. 60 depicts another embodiment of a flow chart for describing amethod of processing at least one different service along with thecommerce service.

In addition to the description of FIG. 56, the process steps shown inFIG. 60 may be additionally performed.

The T-commerce channel receives a first action of the user (S6010), andthe T-commerce channel outputs an avatar for the commerce service inaccordance with the received first action of the user (S6020).

The T-commerce channel receives a second action of the user (S6030), andthe T-commerce channel adds or stores a product, which is selected froman avatar corresponding to the received second action of the user, inthe wish list (S6040).

The T-commerce channel receives a third action of the user (S6050), andthe T-commerce channel provides a payment user interface (UI) forprocessing payment of a product, which is stored in the wish list andselected from the avatar with respect to the received third action ofthe user (S6060). Thereafter, the T-commerce channel carries outs thepayment process based upon the payment data and transmits the result ofthe payment process, which is carried out as described above (S6070).

Meanwhile, the avatar that is being outputted may be controlled to haveits outputted location changed to a section that does not overlap withthe pointer, which is outputted for the usage of the first service withrespect to the user action.

FIG. 61 depicts yet another embodiment of a flow chart for describing amethod of processing at least one different service along with thecommerce service.

In addition to the description of FIG. 56, the process steps shown inFIG. 61 may be additionally performed.

The T-commerce channel receives a check-out request for carrying out thepurchase (S6110), and the T-commerce channel configures a first UIcorresponding to the check-out request through the first browser andtransmits the configured first UI (S6120).

When at least one product is selected within the first UI, theT-commerce channel receives a request for purchasing the selectedproduct (S6130), and, then, the T-commerce channel configured a secondUI for carrying out the payment process with respect to the purchaserequest (S6140).

The T-commerce channel receives payment data through the transmittedsecond UI (S6150), and, then, based upon the received payment data, theT-commerce channel carries out purchase payment for the selected product(S6160).

Meanwhile, the present description mainly depicts and describes anembodiment corresponding to a case when a request for the provision ofanother service is made while a T-commerce service is already (orinitially) being provided at a highest priority level. Alternatively,the above-described technical spirit and scope of the present inventionmay also be directly used without any modification, even when a requestfor the provision of a T-commerce service is made while another serviceis already (or initially) being provided. In other words, when anotherservice is already being provided, the T-commerce service may beoutputted without having to interrupt or stop the initial provision ofthe other service.

Hereinafter, diverse embodiments respective to a case of using thecommerce service while the other service is being used beforehand willbe described below.

In the description presented above, the other service refers to aservice that is described above. However, in the following description,a broadcast service will be given as an exemplary embodiment in order tofacilitate the understanding of the present invention.

The following cases may be broadly given as examples. One exemplary casecorresponds to providing a commerce service based upon a relatedadvertisement information that is being transmitted from an ADprocessor, which is linked to the other service, and another exemplarycase corresponds to providing a commerce service in relation to a brandor product, which is linked to the other service (or channel), or whichis linked to content being provided by the corresponding service.

FIG. 62 depicts a block diagram showing a configuration for processing alinked commerce service according to an embodiment of the presentinvention, FIG. 63 depicts a flow chart for describing a method forprocessing a linked commerce service according to the embodiment of thepresent invention, and FIG. 64 depicts an output scene of the linkedcommerce service according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 62, in order to process a linked commerce servicewithin a T-commerce service system, a source 6210, a CPE 6220, and aT-commerce channel 6230 are included. Herein, an AD processor 6240 maybe further included.

In accordance with a request of the CPE 6220, the source 6210 transmitsa broadcast service and broadcast service signaling data for thebroadcast service. The broadcast service signaling data may include alltypes of data respective to the overall service. And, most particularly,in relation to the present invention, the broadcast service signalingdata may also include diverse data, such as item data, advertisementdata, and so on, which are related to the commerce service. Meanwhile,in accordance with the request of the T-commerce channel 6230, thesource 6210 may directly transmit the broadcast service signaling data.Herein, the source 6210 may include diverse types of digital devices,such as a broadcasting station, another CPE, a mobile device, a tabletPC, a web server, and so on.

The CPE 6220 receives a broadcast service from the source 6210 anddecodes the received broadcast service based upon the broadcast servicesignaling data, which are received along with the broadcast service,and, then, provides the decoded broadcast service through a displayscreen. After decoding the broadcast service signaling data, which arereceived from the source 6210, the decoded data are temporarily stored.Herein, the temporarily stored broadcast service signaling data may notonly be used to provide the broadcast service but may also be deliveredto the T-commerce channel 6230.

In order to provide a linked commerce service, the T-commerce channel6230 may receive broadcast service signaling data respective to thebroadcast service, which is provided by the CPE 6220, from at least oneof the source 6210 and the CPE 6220. And, then, the T-commerce channel6230 may temporarily store the received broadcast service signalingdata.

The T-commerce channel 6230 extracts metadata related to a channelwithin the broadcast service, content being provided from the channel,advertisement, and so on, from the processed broadcast service signalingdata.

The T-commerce channel 6230 compares the extracted metadata with thecommerce service data, which are received from a brand channelprocessor, an advertisement processor, and so on.

Based upon the compared result, in case a related brand or productexists, the T-commerce channel 6230 identifies the corresponding brandor product and separately stores the corresponding data. Thereafter, theT-commerce channel 6230 links the stored data to the commerce servicedata. At this point, time information on a time, at which the relatedbrand or product is being provided through the CPE, is also included inthe linked data.

Herein, for example, in case the user installs and executes a T-Commerceapplication, or in case the user requests for a commerce service(including the case of providing service in a PIP format, as describedabove), or in case the user logs-in to a commerce service through anidentifier, such as a membership identifier, even if the commerceservice itself is not executed, the T-commerce channel 6230 continuouslysenses pre-stored linked commerce service data.

When a specific request of the CPE is made, or, based upon a result ofmonitoring the pre-stored linked commerce service, when a linked contentor channel is being viewed through the CPE, the T-commerce channel 6230may provide a pre-configured linked commerce service in a predeterminedsection of the display screen, so as to propose shifting to thecorresponding commerce service or purchasing a related product or item.In the description provided above, the linked service being providedthrough the CPE may correspond to an overall commerce service request,as shown in FIG. 64, and the linked service may be configured in a PIPformat, which minimizes interference with contents that are currentlybeing provided through the CPE.

Referring to FIG. 63, when the T-commerce channel receives contentsignaling data from the source and/or advertisement data from anadvertisement processor (S6310), the T-commerce channel compares thereceived data with commerce service data, which are acquired from achannel brand processor (S6320).

Based upon the compared result of step S6320, the T-commerce channelextracts commerce service data, which are linked to content oradvertisement (S6330), and, then, based upon the extracted linkedcommerce service data, the T-commerce channel configures a servicescreen of the linked commerce service and stores the configured servicescreen (S6340).

Based upon the previously received signaling data or advertisement data,the T-commerce channel may transmit the linked commerce service screen,which is configured as described above, to the CPE through a remotebrowser, so that the linked commerce service screen can be provided in aPIP format (S6350).

Subsequently, after transmitting the linked commerce service, theT-commerce channel continuously senses the user actions (S6360).Thereafter, the T-commerce channel provides a commerce service inaccordance with the sensed user action (S6370).

Once a predetermined time period has elapsed, the T-commerce channel mayend (or terminate) the linked commerce service (S6380).

Referring to FIG. 64, the CPE 6400 provides a broadcast service in fullscreen. At this point, the linked commerce service 6420 is outputted tothe CPE 6400 in a PIP format.

Meanwhile, a broadcast service 6410 is provided within an embeddedbrowser of the CPE 6400. However, the linked commerce service 6420 maybe provided through a remote browser of the T-commerce channel and maythen be executed through two different types of browsers.

Meanwhile, in outputting a linked service 6420 through the CPE 6400, asshown in FIG. 64, since the T-commerce channel provides the linkedservice 6420 in a PIP format, the linked service 6420 may have a screenconfiguration that is different from the screen configuration of ageneral commerce service.

For example, in case the linked commerce service itself is related to aspecific brand, or related to a specific product or category of aspecific brand, the T-commerce channel transmits only commerce servicedata belonging to the corresponding brand or a product or category ofthe corresponding brand. This is because it is difficult to determinethat the user of the CPE 6400 has actually requested for the commerceservice. Therefore, the T-commerce channel proposes a commerce servicethat can minimize any burden on the user of the CPE.

As described above, after the linked commerce service 6420 istransmitted to the CPE 6400 through the remote browser, the T-commercechannel continues to sense the user action. This is to decide whether ornot to provide a full commerce service or whether or not to performadditional operation control of the provided linked commerce service6420, based upon the sensed result. The additional operation controlrefers to the control on diverse operations related to another brand,another product of the corresponding brand, another version of thecorresponding product, and so on.

Meanwhile, the T-commerce channel may continue to provide a linkedcommerce service, which has already been provided once in accordancewith the user action, and, in this case, even if the contentscorresponding to the initial reason for providing the linked commerceservice no longer exists, diverse commerce services, which arepre-configured by the T-commerce channel, may be serially provided up toa time point of providing the next linked commerce service.

Alternatively, the T-commerce channel may provide the linked commerceservice only for a predetermined period of time in accordance with theuser action or even if the user action does not exist, and, thereafter,the T-commerce channel may automatically terminate the provided linkedcommerce service. In this case, a comment (or notice) regarding theending (or termination) of the linked commerce service may be providedbefore the ending point of the predetermined time period. This isbecause content having the linked commerce service itself as its basisexists. However, when such content disappears in a later process, sincethe significance of the linkage may become less significant, this may goagainst the user's intentions, thereby causing inconvenience to theuser.

As described above, in addition to the advertisement data within thebroadcast service, the T-commerce channel may receive advertisement datafrom an advertisement processor, which is configured for a separateT-commerce service. More specifically, the T-commerce channel mayreceive multiple sets of advertisement data, and by combining themultiple sets of advertisement data, the T-commerce channel mayconfigure a linked commerce service, by comparing the combinedadvertisement data with brand channel data, which are provided by thebrand channel processor.

As described above, the T-commerce channel may identify in advancecontent that can be linked to a commerce service among diverse servicesbeing provided through the CPE. Then, by extracting commerce servicedata related to the identified content, the T-commerce channel mayseparately configure a linked commerce service other than a fullcommerce service, and the T-commerce channel may then store theseparately configured linked commerce service.

Furthermore, the T-commerce channel may adequately provide a linkedcommerce service based upon time information, and so on, of thecorresponding content.

Meanwhile, when a full commerce service is required by the user, afterat least one or more linked commerce services are outputted within apredetermined time period, a full commerce service may be configuredmainly of brands and items (or products) related to the linked commerceservice, and the configured full commerce service may be outputted.

Meanwhile, among the linked commerce services that are being provided,as described above, when the user points to a linked commerce servicethat is currently being provided with a pointer for a predeterminedperiod of time, a full commerce service may be automatically provided.

In this case, as described above, when a full commerce service isrequested through the linked commerce service, it will be preferable toentirely configure screen configurations of the full commerce service bymainly aligning, positioning, and providing brands and products relatedto the linked commerce service. Conversely, in case of requesting for afull commerce service through a separate path (including an initialcommerce service request path) without using the linked commerce serviceas its intermediary, despite the provision of the linked commerceservice, it will be preferable to provide an initially intended commerceservice screen.

Meanwhile, instead of configuring the linked commerce service in a PIPformat, if a remote device paired with the CPE exists, and if a commerceservice application (T-commerce service application) is installed in theremote device, as shown in FIG. 28, the T-commerce channel may transmitthe linked commerce service to the remote device.

Meanwhile, the above-described link information includes URL addresses.Additionally, in this specification, in case of using the linkedcommerce service, the payment process may be directly carried outwithout any changes, or the user may be guided to the full commerceservice so as to carry out the payment process.

As described above, according to the present invention, a new form ofcommerce service, which is completely different from the related artE-commerce service, may be provided, and the present invention maysupport and provide a platform, a service system, a method, and so on,for providing the commerce service. Additionally, according to thepresent invention, commerce service data being transmitted through theCPE may be provided through the remote browser, and a T-commerce channelthat can control and process the remote browser may be provided.Moreover, new forms of payment means and payment methods respective tothe commerce service, which is being outputted through the CPE, may beprovided. Meanwhile, according to the present invention, a user may beidentified from multiple users using the commerce service, and acontinuous commerce service may be provided to the identified user,thereby providing the user with convenience in the payment process.

According to the present invention, during the process of using abroadcast service or other applications, the T-commerce service may beused. For example, the T-commerce service may receive advertisement dataor advertisement reference data, which are related to a broadcastservice that is currently being used by the user, from the CPE. Theabove-described process may be realized in a T-commerce channel basedupon the mouse (or pointer) trajectory tracking data respective to theuser action within the CPE, or the above-described process may berealized based upon signaling data, which are acquired by the CPE from aserver, such as a broadcasting station, with respect to the broadcastservice that is currently being viewed by the user.

As described above, when the advertisement data or advertisementreference data are received from the CPE, the T-commerce channel mayprovide a T-commerce service or a screen for the T-commerce service onthe CPE. In this case, as described above, the display screen may bedivided, and the T-commerce service may be provided in a predeterminedsection among the divided sections of the screen. Alternatively, theT-commerce service may also be provided in a PIP format within a displayscreen of a broadcast service that is currently being provided.Meanwhile, for example, the T-commerce service or the display screen forthe T-commerce service may be realized by user settings or in accordancewith a user request.

Meanwhile, in providing the T-commerce service or the respective displayscreen, the T-commerce channel may configure and provide a service ordisplay screen, which is different from the service or display screencorresponding to a case when the T-commerce service is being accessedthrough a general access route. For example, when the user requests fora T-commerce service, the T-commerce channel may generally provide apre-decided Home screen firsthand. Thereafter, based upon the user'sselection or request, a T-commerce service that is available for usagemay be provided. However, as described above, during the process ofusing a broadcast service, in case of a T-commerce service that is beingprovided through an indirect route instead of a direct route, instead ofproviding a general T-commerce Home screen, the T-commerce service may,for example, configure a T-commerce service screen mostly based uponbrand information, product information, and so on, that is/are relatedto an item, which is selected in accordance with the tracking of thepointer, or which the pointer hovers over for a predetermined period oftime, based upon (or mouse) trajectory tracking data, or the T-commerceservice may configure the T-commerce service screen by using only suchbrand information, product information, and so on. Thereafter, theT-commerce service may provide the T-commerce service screen, which isconfigured as described above. In this case, the advertisement data orthe advertisement reference data may be used instead of the pointertrajectory tracking data. Meanwhile, in order to provide the T-commerceservice screen, the T-commerce channel may compare the pointertrajectory tracking data with the T-commerce service data, which arestored in the database, so as to configure a T-commerce service screenincluding the corresponding brand and product. Thereafter, theT-commerce channel may transmit the configured T-commerce service screento the CPE, thereby allowing the user to use the T-commerce service.

Meanwhile, as described above, in addition to directly configuring aT-commerce service screen and enabling the configured T-commerce servicescreen to be outputted through the CPE, in order to allow the user toconveniently use another service, e.g., a broadcast service or anadvertisement service related to the broadcast service, the T-commerceservice may be provided in the form of a Shortcut icon. In this case, byselecting the shortcut icon, which is added to the Home screen withinthe CPE, user may directly access a brand and/or product, which has beencorrelated to the corresponding shortcut icon in advance by theT-commerce channel. In this case, the T-commerce channel may first storeinformation on the shortcut icon in advance with respect to thecorresponding CPE. Thereafter, based upon the pointer trajectorytracking data of the CPE, when the shortcut icon is accessed, aT-commerce service screen consisting of the pre-stored brand and/orproduct may be transmitted and outputted to the CPE.

Alternatively, when the user is using (or viewing) an advertisement or abroadcast service of the corresponding advertisement through the CPE,the T-commerce channel may provide a T-commerce service indicator, whichenables the user to identify (or recognize) the presence of T-commerceservice data (e.g., brand, product, and so on) corresponding to an itemor object that is related to the advertisement, in surrounding areas ofthe corresponding item or object along with the above-described shortcuticon or separately. Thereafter, in accordance with the user's selectionof the indicator, a T-commerce service screen including the relatedbrand and/or product may be outputted.

Alternatively, in providing a T-commerce service to the CPE, theT-commerce channel may personalize a pre-configured T-commerce servicescreen and provide the personalized T-commerce service screen. In thiscase, the T-commerce channel provides a personalized T-commerce service,which is personalized with preferred brands, preferred categories,preferred products, and so on, which are pre-determined by the user.Alternatively, in case there are no existing user settings, or in caseuser settings exist, the T-commerce channel may analyze the preferredbrands, the preferred categories, the preferred products, and so on ofthe corresponding user based upon the pointer trajectory tracking dataof the user through the respective CPE. Thereafter, the T-commercechannel may configure a T-commerce service screen based upon theanalyzed result and may, then, provide the configured T-commerce servicescreen to the user. Accordingly, the T-commerce service channel maydistinguish the preferred brands, the preferred categories, thepreferred products, and so on, from other brands, categories, products,and so on, and may provide the preferred brands, the preferredcategories, the preferred products, and so on, differently. As a methodfor differently providing such information, for example, with respect toa preferred brand, the T-commerce service channel may configure theservice screen by enlarging the size of a tile or section for providingthe pre-determined T-commerce service, by displaying the correspondingtile or section with more vivid colors, by highlighting thecorresponding tile or section, by positioning or aligning thecorresponding tile or section at a highest priority level (i.e., bymoving the corresponding tile or section to an upper section of the Homescreen, so that the user can access the corresponding tile or sectionfirsthand), as opposed to other brands. Furthermore, in addition tostill image data, the T-commerce service may also be provided in formatconsisting of a combination of diverse audio data, video data, textdata, and so on. Most particularly, when a T-commerce service isrequested through any route or in any state, the T-commerce channel mayprovide T-commerce service data through the corresponding CPE. However,in case of the audio data, even though multiple sets of audio dataexist, only the audio data that are linked to an image data and videodata of the preferred brand may be provided, and the remaining audiodata sets, which are linked to the image data and video data of otherremaining brands, may be muted.

Meanwhile, in another perspective of the present invention, anembodiment of a method for processing a commerce service in a commerceprocessor, which communicates with a CPE of a user, may be configured toinclude the steps of receiving a first service request of the user,configuring a first service screen through a first browser andtransmitting the configured first service screen, receiving at least onesecond service request of the user, controlling an output of the secondservice through a second browser, sensing a user action, and controllingchanges in output locations of the outputted second service with respectto the sensed user action. Herein, the first service may correspond to acommerce service, and the at least one second service may correspond toa service other than the commerce service. The service other than thecommerce service may include at least one of a broadcast service, a webservice, a gallery service, and an SNS service. At least one of thefirst browser and the second browser may correspond to a remote browserbeing equipped to the commerce processor. The second browser maycorrespond to an embedded browser of the CPE. Meanwhile, the method maybe configured to further include the steps of outputting an avatar for acommerce service with respect to a first user action, adding and storinga product selected from the avatar with respect to a second user actionin a wish list, providing a payment UI for carrying out a paymentprocess for purchasing the product, which is selected by the avatar fromthe stored wish list, with respect to a third user action, and carryingout the payment process based upon the payment data and transmitting aresult of the processed payment. Herein, the outputted avatar may becontrolled so that its output location can be changed to a section of ascreen that does not overlap with a pointer, which is used for the usageof the first service with respect to the user action. At least one ofthe first service and the second service may be transmitted through theremote browser via streaming. An interface that is being provided forthe second service may be controlled to have its output location changedto a section that does not overlap with the pointer for the firstservice. Moreover, the method may be configured to further include thesteps of receiving a check-out request for carrying out purchase,configuring a first UI corresponding to the check-out request andoutputting the configured first UI through the first browser, selectingat least one product from the first UI and receiving a purchase requestfor the selected product, configuring a second UI for carrying outpayment with respect to the purchase request and outputting theconfigured second UI, receiving payment data through the transmittedsecond UI, and carrying out payment for the selected product based uponthe received payment data.

Meanwhile, in yet another perspective of the present invention, anembodiment of a method for processing a commerce service in a commerceprocessor, which communicates with a CPE of a user, may be configured toinclude the steps of receiving commerce service reference data from atleast one source, comparing the received reference data with acquiredcommerce service data and extracting related commerce service data,thereby configuring a linked commerce service, transmitting theconfigured linked commerce service, sensing a user action, andcontrolling the linked commerce service in accordance with the senseduser action. The method may be configured to further include the step oftransmitting the linked commerce service or determining a time point atwhich the linked commerce service is to be outputted on the CPE, basedupon the received reference data. The method may also be configured toinclude at least one of the steps of determining whether or not toprovide a full commerce service based upon the sensed user action, andtransmitting a control command for ending the linked commerce service.The linked commerce service may be provided through a browser other thanthe browser of the service that is currently being provided to the CPE.The linked commerce service may be provided on the CPE in a PIP format.The method may be configured to further include the step of detecting atransmission time point or outputting time point of a next linkedcommerce service after the transmission of a control command for endingthe linked commerce service. In case the sensed user action selects thetransmitted linked commerce service, the method may be configured tofurther include the step of transmitting a full commerce service.Herein, the full commerce service that is being transmitted mayconfigure the commerce service screen, so that a brand respective to thelinked commerce service and commerce data respective to a productbelonging to the corresponding brand can be assigned with the highestpriority levels in order to configure the commerce service screen.

The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or inwhole through a machine that executes computer software, program codes,and/or instructions on a processor. The present invention may beimplemented as a method on the machine, as a system or apparatus as partof or in relation to the machine, or as a computer program productembodied in a computer readable medium executing on one or more of themachines. The processor may be part of a server, client, networkinfrastructure, mobile computing platform, stationary computingplatform, or other computing platform. A processor may be any kind ofcomputational or processing device capable of executing programinstructions, codes, binary instructions and the like. The processor maybe or include a signal processor, digital processor, embedded processor,microprocessor or any variant such as a co-processor (math co-processor,graphic co-processor, communication co-processor and the like) and thelike that may directly or indirectly facilitate execution of programcode or program instructions stored thereon. In addition, the processormay enable execution of multiple programs, threads, and codes. Thethreads may be executed simultaneously to enhance the performance of theprocessor and to facilitate simultaneous operations of the application.By way of implementation, methods, program codes, program instructionsand the like described herein may be implemented in one or more thread.The thread may spawn other threads that may have assigned prioritiesassociated with them; the processor may execute these threads based onpriority or any other order based on instructions provided in theprogram code. The processor may include memory that stores methods,codes, instructions and programs as described herein and elsewhere. Theprocessor may access a storage medium through an interface that maystore methods, codes, and instructions as described herein andelsewhere. The storage medium associated with the processor for storingmethods, programs, codes, program instructions or other type ofinstructions capable of being executed by the computing or processingdevice may include but may not be limited to one or more of a CD-ROM,DVD, memory, hard disk, flash drive, RAM, ROM, cache and the like.

A processor may include one or more cores that may enhance speed andperformance of a multiprocessor. In embodiments, the process may be adual core processor, quad core processors, other chip-levelmultiprocessor and the like that combine two or more independent cores(called a die).

The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or inwhole through a machine that executes computer software on a server,client, firewall, gateway, hub, router, or other such computer and/ornetworking hardware. The software program may be associated with aserver that may include a file server, print server, domain server,internet server, intranet server and other variants such as secondaryserver, host server, distributed server and the like. The server mayinclude one or more of memories, processors, computer readable media,storage media, ports (physical and virtual), communication devices, andinterfaces capable of accessing other servers, clients, machines, anddevices through a wired or a wireless medium, and the like. The methods,programs, or codes as described herein and elsewhere may be executed bythe server. In addition, other devices required for execution of methodsas described in this application may be considered as a part of theinfrastructure associated with the server.

The server may provide an interface to other devices including, withoutlimitation, clients, other servers, printers, database servers, printservers, file servers, communication servers, distributed servers andthe like. Additionally, this coupling and/or connection may facilitateremote execution of program across the network. The networking of someor all of these devices may facilitate parallel processing of a programor method at one or more location without deviating from the scope ofthe invention. In addition, any of the devices attached to the serverthrough an interface may include at least one storage medium capable ofstoring methods, programs, code and/or instructions. A centralrepository may provide program instructions to be executed on differentdevices. In this implementation, the remote repository may act as astorage medium for program code, instructions, and programs.

The software program may be associated with a client that may include afile client, print client, domain client, internet client, intranetclient and other variants such as secondary client, host client,distributed client and the like. The client may include one or more ofmemories, processors, computer readable media, storage media, ports(physical and virtual), communication devices, and interfaces capable ofaccessing other clients, servers, machines, and devices through a wiredor a wireless medium, and the like. The methods, programs, or codes asdescribed herein and elsewhere may be executed by the client. Inaddition, other devices required for execution of methods as describedin this application may be considered as a part of the infrastructureassociated with the client.

The client may provide an interface to other devices including, withoutlimitation, servers, other clients, printers, database servers, printservers, file servers, communication servers, distributed servers andthe like. Additionally, this coupling and/or connection may facilitateremote execution of program across the network. The networking of someor all of these devices may facilitate parallel processing of a programor method at one or more location without deviating from the scope ofthe invention. In addition, any of the devices attached to the clientthrough an interface may include at least one storage medium capable ofstoring methods, programs, applications, code and/or instructions. Acentral repository may provide program instructions to be executed ondifferent devices. In this implementation, the remote repository may actas a storage medium for program code, instructions, and programs.

The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or inwhole through network infrastructures. The network infrastructure mayinclude elements such as computing devices, servers, routers, hubs,firewalls, clients, personal computers, communication devices, routingdevices and other active and passive devices, modules and/or componentsas known in the art. The computing and/or non-computing device(s)associated with the network infrastructure may include, apart from othercomponents, a storage medium such as flash memory, buffer, stack, RAM,ROM and the like. The processes, methods, program codes, instructionsdescribed herein and elsewhere may be executed by one or more of thenetwork infrastructural elements.

The methods, program codes, and instructions described herein andelsewhere may be implemented on a cellular network having multiplecells. The cellular network may either be frequency division multipleaccess (FDMA) network or code division multiple access (CDMA) network.The cellular network may include mobile devices, cell sites, basestations, repeaters, antennas, towers, and the like. The cell networkmay be a GSM, GPRS, 3G, EVDO, mesh, or other networks types.

The methods, programs codes, and instructions described herein andelsewhere may be implemented on or through mobile devices. The mobiledevices may include navigation devices, cell phones, mobile phones,mobile personal digital assistants, laptops, palmtops, netbooks, pagers,electronic books readers, music players and the like. These devices mayinclude, apart from other components, a storage medium such as a flashmemory, buffer, RAM, ROM and one or more computing devices. Thecomputing devices associated with mobile devices may be enabled toexecute program codes, methods, and instructions stored thereon.Alternatively, the mobile devices may be configured to executeinstructions in collaboration with other devices. The mobile devices maycommunicate with base stations interfaced with servers and configured toexecute program codes. The mobile devices may communicate on apeer-to-peer network, mesh network, or other communications network. Theprogram code may be stored on the storage medium associated with theserver and executed by a computing device embedded within the server.The base station may include a computing device and a storage medium.The storage device may store program codes and instructions executed bythe computing devices associated with the base station.

The computer software, program codes, and/or instructions may be storedand/or accessed on machine readable media that may include: computercomponents, devices, and recording media that retain digital data usedfor computing for some interval of time; semiconductor storage known asrandom access memory (RAM); mass storage typically for more permanentstorage, such as optical discs, forms of magnetic storage like harddisks, tapes, drums, cards and other types; processor registers, cachememory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory; optical storage such asCD, DVD; removable media such as flash memory (e.g. USB sticks or keys),floppy disks, magnetic tape, paper tape, punch cards, standalone RAMdisks, Zip drives, removable mass storage, off-line, and the like; othercomputer memory such as dynamic memory, static memory, read/writestorage, mutable storage, read only, random access, sequential access,location addressable, file addressable, content addressable, networkattached storage, storage area network, bar codes, magnetic ink, and thelike.

The methods and systems described herein may transform physical and/oror intangible items from one state to another. The methods and systemsdescribed herein may also transform data representing physical and/orintangible items from one state to another.

The elements described and depicted herein, including in flow charts andblock diagrams throughout the figures, imply logical boundaries betweenthe elements. However, according to software or hardware engineeringpractices, the depicted elements and the functions thereof may beimplemented on machines through computer executable media having aprocessor capable of executing program instructions stored thereon as amonolithic software structure, as standalone software modules, or asmodules that employ external routines, code, services, and so forth, orany combination of these, and all such implementations may be within thescope of the present disclosure. Examples of such machines may include,but may not be limited to, personal digital assistants, laptops,personal computers, mobile phones, other handheld computing devices,medical equipment, wired or wireless communication devices, transducers,chips, calculators, satellites, tablet PCs, electronic books, gadgets,electronic devices, devices having artificial intelligence, computingdevices, networking equipments, servers, routers and the like.Furthermore, the elements depicted in the flow chart and block diagramsor any other logical component may be implemented on a machine capableof executing program instructions. Thus, while the foregoing drawingsand descriptions set forth functional aspects of the disclosed systems,no particular arrangement of software for implementing these functionalaspects should be inferred from these descriptions unless explicitlystated or otherwise clear from the context. Similarly, it will beappreciated that the various steps identified and described above may bevaried, and that the order of steps may be adapted to particularapplications of the techniques disclosed herein. All such variations andmodifications are intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure.As such, the depiction and/or description of an order for various stepsshould not be understood to require a particular order of execution forthose steps, unless required by a particular application, or explicitlystated or otherwise clear from the context.

The methods and/or processes described above, and steps thereof, may berealized in hardware, software or any combination of hardware andsoftware suitable for a particular application. The hardware may includea general-purpose computer and/or dedicated computing device or specificcomputing device or particular aspect or component of a specificcomputing device. The processes may be realized in one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, embedded microcontrollers,programmable digital signal processors or other programmable device,along with internal and/or external memory. The processes may also, orinstead, be embodied in an application specific integrated circuit, aprogrammable gate array, programmable array logic, or any other deviceor combination of devices that may be configured to process electronicsignals. It will further be appreciated that one or more of theprocesses may be realized as a computer executable code capable of beingexecuted on a machine-readable medium.

The computer executable code may be created using a structuredprogramming language such as C, an object oriented programming languagesuch as C++, or any other high-level or low-level programming language(including assembly languages, hardware description languages, anddatabase programming languages and technologies) that may be stored,compiled or interpreted to run on one of the above devices, as well asheterogeneous combinations of processors, processor architectures, orcombinations of different hardware and software, or any other machinecapable of executing program instructions.

Thus, in one aspect, each method described above and combinationsthereof may be embodied in computer executable code that, when executingon one or more computing devices, performs the steps thereof. In anotheraspect, the methods may be embodied in systems that perform the stepsthereof, and may be distributed across devices in a number of ways, orall of the functionality may be integrated into a dedicated, standalonedevice or other hardware. In another aspect, the means for performingthe steps associated with the processes described above may include anyof the hardware and/or software described above. All such permutationsand combinations are intended to fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

While the invention has been disclosed in connection with the preferredembodiments shown and described in detail, various modifications andimprovements thereon will become readily apparent to those skilled inthe art. Accordingly, the spirit and scope of the present invention isnot to be limited by the foregoing examples, but is to be understood inthe broadest sense allowable by law.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for processing a multimedia commerceservice, comprising: storing service usage pattern data of a user usingthe multimedia commerce service; sensing a user action from a CPE of theuser using the multimedia commerce service; comparing the sensed useraction with the stored service usage pattern data of the user;extracting service usage pattern data of the user in accordance with theuser action; and providing recommended commerce service informationrespective to the extracted service usage pattern data of the user. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the step of storing service usage patterndata of a user comprises: receiving a commerce service request of theuser; configuring a service screen of the commerce service in accordancewith the received request and transmitting the configured servicescreen; sensing the user action through the commerce service screen; andstoring service usage pattern data of the user corresponding to thesensed user action.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the service usagepattern data of the user corresponding to the sensed user actioncorresponds to a brand visiting path pattern related to a brandidentifier and product identifier based upon tracking data acquired fromthe user's pointer trajectory.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein thestep of sensing a user action senses the user action based upon a directtouch of a CPE, a signal being inputted through a smart phone, a remotedevice, a mouse, a camera, and a microphone.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein the step of extracting service usage pattern data of the user inaccordance with the user action comprises: extracting all service usagepattern data of the user similar to the user action, based upon thecompared result; deciding priority levels of the extracted service usagepattern data of the user in accordance with a pattern similarity level;and extracting the service usage pattern data of the user correspondingto a highest priority level among the decided priority levels.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the step of providing recommended commerceservice information respective to the extracted service usage patterndata of the user comprises: deciding a content alignment frame inaccordance with the service usage pattern data of the user; decidingalignment positions of contents in accordance with the decided contentsalignment frame; and providing brand information and respective productinformation corresponding to the decided alignment positions of thecontents.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the contents include movingpicture images, photos, and text contents.
 8. The method of claim 6,wherein the contents alignment frame corresponds to a stack structure.9. In a device for processing a multimedia commerce service configuringa network in a CPE, the device for processing the multimedia commerceservice comprises: a communication module configured to transmit andreceive data; a storage module configured to store service usage patterndata of a user using the multimedia commerce service; a sensing moduleconfigured to sense a user action from a CPE of the user using themultimedia commerce service; an extraction module configured to extractservice usage pattern data of the user in accordance with the useraction; an editing module configured to edit browser screenconfiguration of a multimedia commerce service being provided to the CPEin accordance with the extracted service usage pattern data of the user;and a controller configured to control the communication module, thestorage module, the sensing module, the extraction module, and theediting module, and to provide recommended commerce service informationto the corresponding CPE through an edited browser screen in accordancewith the service usage pattern data of the user.
 10. The device of claim9, wherein the controller is further configured to receive a commerceservice request of the user, to configure a service screen of thecommerce service in accordance with the received request and to transmitthe configured service screen, to sense the user action through thecommerce service screen, and to store the service usage pattern data ofthe user corresponding to the user action.
 11. The device of claim 9,wherein the service usage pattern data of the user corresponding to thesensed user action corresponds to a brand visiting path pattern relatedto a brand identifier and product identifier based upon tracking dataacquired from the user's pointer trajectory.
 12. The device of claim 9,wherein the sensing module is configured to sense user action based upona direct touch of a CPE, a signal being inputted through a smart phone,a remote device, a mouse, a camera, and a microphone.
 13. The device ofclaim 9, wherein the extraction module comprises: a comparison unitconfigured to compare the detected user action with the stored serviceusage pattern data of the user; a first extraction unit configured toextract all service usage pattern data of the user similar to the useraction, based upon the compared result; a priority-level decision unitconfigured to decide priority levels of the extracted service usagepattern data of the user in accordance with a pattern similarity level;and a second extraction unit configured to extract the service usagepattern data of the user corresponding to a highest priority level amongthe decided priority levels.
 14. The device of claim 9, wherein theediting module is configured to decide a content alignment frame inaccordance with the service usage pattern data of the user, to decidealignment positions of contents in accordance with the decided contentsalignment frame, and to provide brand information and respective productinformation corresponding to the decided alignment positions of thecontents.
 15. The device of claim 14, wherein the contents includemoving picture images, photos, and text contents.
 16. The device ofclaim 14, wherein the contents alignment frame corresponds to a stackstructure.